Solomon Tembang Mforgham
Some 18,000 Chadians returning to their villagers after fleeing inter-communal violence and a spill-over of the conflict from neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region are in dire need for international aid. The United Nations has called for international assistance to these returning displaced persons.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Mission in Chad and the Central African Republic (MINURCAT), the lack of natural resources is the principal cause of conflict between the local and foreign populations.
Reports say symbolic reconciliation ceremony was held recently between the communities in the villages of Tiero and Marena in an area from where some 30,000 people fled a worsening security situation in 2007, many into Darfur where the Sudanese Government, its allied militias and rebels have been fighting for more than six years.
Between 2005 and 2006 the villages sheltered several thousand people fleeing the fighting along the Chad-Sudan border, but in 2007 they were themselves victims of attacks that killed several hundred people and displaced thousands more.
UN officials attending the ceremony are said to have pledged to support the return home of displaced communities in the region.
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