Ten items from today (updated originally to reflect a newer version of the Reuters story on the source page; updated further to add the BBC "eyewitness" feature; updated still further to add the one by VOA's Lisa Schlein; updated yet again to reflect a newer version of the AP story on the source page; updated still further to add the Bloomberg story):
By Reuters' Stephanie Nebehay...
(An earlier version is also still available on AlertNet.)
Up to 400 people were killed in Chad in a recent attack [that] survivors say was carried out by Sudanese and local Janjaweed militia aided by Chadian rebels, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
Chadian authorities had estimated last week that at least 65 people died in the early-morning attacks on March 31 on two villages in eastern Chad, Tiero and Marena, home to some 8,000.
The new estimated toll followed a visit to the remote area on Sunday by a group of U.N. agencies which described the scene there as "apocalyptic," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said.
"Estimates of the number of dead have increased substantially, and now range between 200 and 400. Because most of the dead were buried where their bodies were found -- often in common graves, owing to their numbers -- we may never know their exact number," he told a briefing.
Survivors identified the attackers as a coalition of well-armed Janjaweed militia "assisted by Chad rebels equipped with heavy weapons and vehicles", he said. It would be one of the most violent single incidents so far recorded on the volatile Chadian-Sudanese border.
UNHCR spokeswoman Helene Caux said that survivors had reported recognising some of the Janjaweed as living in Arab settlements around their villages, while others appeared to have crossed the border from Sudan.
The U.N. team found decomposing bodies near the villages, including that of a 30-year-old father of eight. Hundreds of homes had been burned to the ground, and there was an "overwhelming stench" from rotting carcasses of dead animals.
"There were many indications that people had little or no time to flee, given that many essential household goods, food and domestic animals were left behind," Redmond said.
An eight-year-old boy told the U.N. team that he had dropped to the ground to "escape bullets that came like rainfall" as he fled Tiero. A girl his age had died of a gunshot wound to the head as she got up to run, he said. "The number of survivors who have provided us with heartbreaking testimony such as this is overwhelming. It paints a portrait perhaps better described as a massacre than an attack," Redmond told Reuters.
Khartoum, which human rights officials accuse of supporting the Janjaweed, denies any responsibility for the deadly raids.
"NIGHTMARISH SITUATION"
The number of wounded in the raids stood at about 80, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Many of those who survived the initial attack, especially elderly and young children, had died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing, it said.
Some 9,000 Chadians -- mainly women and children -- from the surrounding area had fled after the attacks, joining another 9,000 compatriots who had fled earlier raids, the agency said.
"The whereabouts of many men remain unknown," Redmond said. "This is really a nightmarish situation that is occurring in southeastern Chad."
The villages are located in the Wadi-Fira region of Chad's eastern border with Sudan. Chad has identified the raiders, some mounted on camels and horses, as Sudanese Janjaweed militia.
The raids appear to be another spillover of violence from Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region, where well over 200,000 people have been killed since 2003 in a war between rebels and Sudanese government forces and their allied militias.
From DPA...
The number of people estimated to have died during a brutal attack on villages in south-eastern Chad last month, had risen to between 200 and 400, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said [on] Tuesday in Geneva.
Up to 80 people had also been wounded. More than 9,000 villagers had fled their homes and arrived at a camp for internally displaced people following the raids on the villages of Tiero and Marena on March 31.
[...] UNHCR said [that] this was far more than expected. They joined 9,000 people already at the new Habile camp, who had fled earlier attacks in the region.
UNHCR said [that] many of those killed had been buried where they fell, often in common graves, and [that] it was impossible to know the exact number of dead.
UNHCR staff had visited the villages [on] Sunday that had been deserted after being surrounded by militias shooting randomly. They described the scenes as 'apocalyptic.' Corpses lay unburied alongside the rotting remains of livestock, abandoned in the hurry to get away.
The region shares a border with Sudan, and is vulnerable to attack from forces spilling over from the Darfur conflict.
The UN refugee agency says [that] the situation following attacks on two villages in eastern Chad [on] March 31st is far worse than originally thought. The UNHCR says [that] janjaweed attacks on Tiero and Marena apparently left hundreds of people dead and widespread destruction.
Matthew Conway, a spokesperson for the UNHCR, has just returned from the villages. From the eastern Chadian town of Abeche, he spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua.
“It took us about a week to finally get access to the region, because of insecurity. And what we saw was, quite frankly, shocking. Large villages completely emptied, and evidence of very fierce battles that took place. Unfortunately, there were still bodies that had not yet been buried. We came across a couple of them during some of our travels. And it was really a scene of utter destruction and desolation,” he says.
It’s unclear how many people were killed, but estimates range as high as 400. Conway says, “Unfortunately, I think [that] the numbers were so high and people were in such an urgency to flee that a lot of bodies were not accounted for, and were buried in common graves. So, sadly, I don’t know that we’ll ever really know the actual toll, but it is clear that it numbers in the low hundreds.”
UNHCR estimates about 140,000 Chadians have been displaced in the east in recent months, with at least 9,000 being displaced following the attacks late last month on Tiero and Marena. Thousands more are also reported to have fled toward the Sudanese border. A three-week survey begins at the end of the week to get a more precise figure.
UNHCR says [that] Chadians from over 30 villages have arrived at a camp in Habile. “We’ve expanded the existing Habile site to accommodate the new arrivals. But we’re very concerned that even though there’s sufficient space, that much of this land is prone to flooding during the rainy season, which should be arriving in the next month or so. So, we’re going to need to move a lot of these people to other sites that we’re trying to identify with Chadian authorities right now,” says Conway.
From the AP...
Janjaweed militiamen killed up to 400 people in the volatile eastern border region near Sudan, leaving an "apocalyptic" scene of mass graves and destruction, the U.N. refugee agency said [on] Tuesday.
The attacks took place March 31 in the border villages of Tiero and Marena, about 885 kilometers (550 miles) from the capital, N'djamena. Chadian officials initially said [that] 65 people had died, but said [that] the toll was sure to rise.
"Estimates of the number of dead have increased substantially, and now range between 200 and 400," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement. "Because most of the dead were buried where their bodies were found — often in common graves, owing to their numbers — we may never know their exact number."
The attackers encircled the villages and opened fire, pursuing fleeing villagers, robbing women and shooting the men, UNHCR said. Many who survived the initial attack died later from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing.
Sudan and Chad repeatedly have accused one another of backing rebels in each other's countries, and both have denied the allegations. Both countries also have signed peace deals promising to stop the border fighting.
U.N. officials have warned of the possibility of increasing violence in the region where Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic meet. Fighting in Sudan's Darfur region reportedly has left more than 200,000 people dead.
Sudanese leaders are accused of unleashing the pro-government Arab militia, the janjaweed, which is blamed for widespread attacks and rapes against ethnic Africans.
On Monday, the Sudanese military said [that] 17 of its soldiers were killed repelling a Chadian army raid on a Sudanese border town in West Darfur.
Sudanese army spokesman Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash said in a statement that a company of the Chadian army, consisting of 140 trucks and seven armored vehicles, crossed into Sudan and attacked For Baranga, a small town within several kilometers of the Chad border.
He said [that] the Sudanese army and police pushed the attackers back across the border, but [that] 17 soldiers were killed and 40 wounded in the process.
Chad acknowledged [on] Tuesday that it crossed the border into Sudan, but said [that] it was pursuing Chadian rebels. Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor, the government spokesman, said [that] Chadian forces were "surprised to find they were in direct contact with Sudanese forces deployed to protect the assailants."
Doumgor said [that] eight Chadian soldiers were killed.
Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Sadeq said [that] his government had summoned the Chadian charge d'affairs in Sudan and asked that N'djamena provide a written explanation for "these serious attacks."
From AFP...
Aid workers have found "apocalyptic" scenes in two villages in Chad where up to 400 people may have died following attacks blamed on Sudan's Janjaweed militia, said the UN refugee agency on Tuesday.
"Estimates of the number of dead have increased substantially, and now range between 200 and 400," said Ron Redmond, a spokesperson for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"On Sunday, an inter-agency assessment mission led by UNHCR to Tiero and Morina found a situation that one of our staff described as 'apocalyptic'," he said.
A Chadian official said last week that the death toll in the attacks in the southeast of the country on March 31 had risen to about 100.
Decomposing bodies were still being found in the area, including those of a 70-year-old man and a 30-year-old father of eight, said Redmond.
The mission found that "hundreds upon hundreds" of homes had been burnt to the ground, and [that] some were still smouldering, while the area was beset by the stench of rotting animal carcasses.
'Slain by local milatia'
Most of the dead were buried where their bodies were found, sometimes in common graves.
Redmond said: "We may never know the exact number of deaths.
"Many who survived the initial attack - particularly those most vulnerable, such as the elderly and young children - died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing."
The incidents occurred after two members of an Arab tribe were slain by a local militia composed of members of the African Dadjo tribe.
Racial tensions between local Africans and the descendants of Arab settlers who fanned out across Africa centuries ago have often led to bloodletting, especially in Sudan, which was the scene of Africa's longest-running civil war.
The Khartoum-backed Janjaweed militia and the Sudanese military have been accused of carrying out mass killings during attacks on villages in Darfur, which borders Chad, forcing at least two million people to flee their homes since 2003.
Some 9,000 Chadians have arrived in UN refugee agency trucks, and on their own, at the Habile site for internally displaced persons, after brutal attacks on two villages left houses torched and the ground strewn with dead.
A United Nations team headed by UNHCR reached the burnt out villages of Tiero and Marena on Sunday, a week after the March 31 attacks. Survivors blamed the attacks on janjaweed militiamen on horses and camels, assisted by Chadian rebels with heavy weaponry and vehicles. Decomposing bodies still lay on the ground, and smoke hung in the air from the last of the fires that had destroyed their houses
Estimates of the death toll have risen to between 200 and 400, although the exact number may never be known. With improved security, friends and relatives have returned to bury the dead. Victims were buried where they fell, often in common graves. Many who survived the attacks – particularly the elderly and young children – died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing. About 80 additional people were wounded.
The attacks on the villages 45 kilometres east of the UNHCR sub-office in the village of Koukou-Angarana were far worse than initially thought. An estimated 8,000 local residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) had been living in Tiero and Marena. Residents of other villages in the area also fled.
More than 9,000 Chadians from 31 villages have now arrived at the new Habile site for IDPs in UNHCR vehicles or by themselves. They joined another 9,000 who had fled earlier attacks in the region, especially last November and December, when inter-communal violence left more than 200 dead and many wounded. The precise number of new IDPs remains unclear, and additional names are being presented to aid agencies daily. Many new arrivals had already been displaced several times in the past year.
Many of the wounded were collected along the roadside by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and brought to the Goz Amir refugee camp health centre. Twenty-eight IDP children were admitted to the feeding centre, while 12 elderly Chadians are being treated, especially for exhaustion. More serious cases were referred for treatment in Goz Beida, a two-hour drive from the camp.
The majority of the IDP population is comprised of women and children; the whereabouts of many men remains unknown. UNHCR is working with the heads of the 31 villages represented in the new Habile site to collect the names of those present, highlighting vulnerable persons, those missing, and those confirmed dead, to facilitate family tracing and other protection activities.
The inter-agency assessment mission led by UNHCR to Tiero and Marena had found a situation that a UNHCR officer described as "apocalyptic." The decomposing bodies of two men who had been shot dead – one a man of 70, the other a 30-year-old father of eight children – lay a kilometre outside the Mayo section of Tiero village.
Hundreds upon hundreds of homes had been burned to the ground, and a small fire was still burning in one section of Tiero village. An overwhelming stench came from the rotting carcasses of domestic animals that had been hit by stray bullets, consumed by fire or died of thirst, as the owners had no time to untie them. Famished and frightened dogs barked incessantly.
People had little or no time to flee: many essential household goods, food and domestic animals were left behind. Along the route were strewn belongings abandoned by those who died on the way or collapsed and were brought to Goz Amir camp health centre for treatment.
The situation appears to have stabilised for the time being, with a massive deployment of Chadian forces to the region. While much remains to be done, a rapid response by UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies has succeeded in reducing the mortality and suffering of Chadians affected by this latest crisis.
Items including plastic sheeting, soap, buckets and jerry cans have been distributed to all new arrivals in Habile, with distribution of blankets and mats to take place in the coming days. Food rations and water are also being supplied.
There are an estimated 140,000 internally displaced persons in eastern Chad. The region also hosts 235,000 Sudanese refugees, more than 225,000 of them in a dozen UNHCR-run camps. Chad also has 48,000 refugees from the Central African Republic, more than 46,000 of them in four UNHCR-run camps in the south of the country.
By Matthew Conway
in Habile, Chad
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 10 April 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
We have updated information to report regarding the humanitarian situation in south-eastern Chad following brutal attacks on March 31 on the villages of Tiero and Marena, 45 km east of our sub-office in the village of Koukou-Angarana. Unfortunately, the situation has proven to be far worse than our previous expectations. More than 9,000 Chadians from 31 villages have now arrived at the new Habile site for internally displaced people (IDPs), joining another 9,000 who had fled earlier attacks in the region. Estimates of the number of dead have also increased substantially, and now range between 200 and 400. Because most of the dead were buried where their bodies were found – often in common graves owing to their numbers – we may never know their exact number. Many who survived the initial attack – particularly those most vulnerable, such as the elderly and young children – died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing.
Figures for the number of persons wounded have fortunately not greatly increased and now number 80 individuals. Many of the wounded were collected along the roadside by ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and brought to the Goz Amir refugee camp health centre run by international NGO, COOPI [Cooperazione Internazionale]. Twenty-eight IDP children were admitted to the centre's therapeutic feeding centre, while 12 elderly Chadians are being treated for various ailments, especially exhaustion. More serious cases were referred for treatment to the COOPI-supported hospital in Goz Beida, a 2-hour drive from the camp.
The precise number of new IDPs remains unclear, and additional names are being presented to aid agencies daily. Furthermore, there have been some instances of previously displaced persons trying to infiltrate among the newly arrived IDPs in the hope of receiving additional assistance. We distributed pens and notebooks to the heads of the 31 villages represented in the new Habile site in order to collect the names of those present, highlighting vulnerable persons, those missing, and those confirmed dead, to facilitate family tracing and other protection activities.
For many of the new arrivals, this was not first time they had been displaced; some have moved several times in the past year. An estimated 8,000 local residents and IDPs had been residing in Tiero and Marena.
The situation appears to have generally stabilized for the time being, with a massive deployment of Chadian military forces to the region. Due to increasing tensions between communities, all new IDPs were transferred within two days by UNHCR trucks or by their own means from the [marketplace] in Aradib to the new Habile site. The majority of the IDP population is comprised of women and children; the whereabouts of many men remain unknown.
On Sunday, an inter-agency assessment mission led by UNHCR to Tiero and Marena found a situation that one of our staff described as "apocalyptic." A week after the attack, decomposing bodies were still being found in the area, including those of two men – one an elderly man of 70, the other a 30-year-old father of eight children – who were shot dead about a kilometre outside the Mayo section of Tiero village. Security conditions had finally permitted family and friends to return to the area to bury them. Hundreds upon hundreds of homes had been burned to the ground, and a small fire was still burning in one section of Tiero village. An overwhelming stench came from the rotting carcasses of domestic animals such as donkeys, goats and chickens that had been hit by stray bullets, consumed by fire or died of thirst, as the owners had no time to untie them. Famished and frightened dogs barked incessantly. There were many indications that people had little or no time to flee, given that many essential household goods, food and domestic animals were left behind. Along the route could be seen belongings abandoned along the way by those who collapsed and were brought to Goz Amir camp health centre for treatment, or who died where they fell.
While much more remains to be done, rapid response by UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies has succeeded in reducing the mortality and suffering of the thousands of Chadians affected by this latest crisis. Items including plastic sheeting, soap, buckets and jerry cans provided by UNHCR and UNICEF have already been distributed by the international NGO, InterSOS, to all new arrivals in Habile, with distribution of blankets and mats to take place in the coming days. A 45-day food ration consisting of 17.5kg of cereals, 2.1kg of beans, 2.1 litres of oil, 840g of sugar and 21g of salt provided by the World Food Programme was distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Drinking water is provided delivered by truck by MSF-France, and distributed via two water bladders while the possibility of installing additional water pumps is being studied. COOPI has been vaccinating children against measles and providing them with Vitamin A supplement and de-worming medicine, while MSF-France has also been providing complementary health interventions. Chadian authorities have identified land and offered to lend their support, depending on gaps identified in the assistance being provided by international aid agencies.
Reports from eastern Chad suggest [that] the violence is going from bad to worse. The UN refugee agency's Matthew Conway has just returned from the villages of Tiero and Marena, where there was a brutal raid on 31 March 2007. He told the BBC News website what he saw.
It was shocking, apocalyptic - a scene of utter desolation and destruction.
Attacks like this happen repeatedly, but the scale of this one and the ferocity of it was startling - even to those of us who have been here for some time.
These were fairly large villages and clearly relatively prosperous: rich agricultural fields; neatly assembled houses[. And] they were more or less completely destroyed in these attacks.
Hundreds upon hundreds of homes had been burned to the ground, and a small fire was still burning in one section of Tiero village.
An overwhelming stench came from the rotting carcasses of domestic animals such as donkeys, goats and chickens that had been hit by stray bullets, consumed by fire or died of thirst, as the owners had no time to untie them.
Two-pronged attack
All the villagers had fled - there was no-one left except a few people who started to come back to try to salvage whatever belongings survived the fires that were set to the villages.
Some had located the bodies of dead family and friends, and were struggling to bury them with some very basic tools.
In fact, we came across the bodies of an elderly man of 70 and the other a 30-year-old father of eight who had been shot dead about 1km from their village.
It's hard to know what the circumstances were, but given eyewitness testimony, they were most likely running for their lives and chased down by the attackers.
Evidence collected so far indicates [that] it was a two-pronged attack - very well co-ordinated and premeditated.
It happened at first light, so the villagers were caught totally unawares. Some of the men would have been at mosque for morning prayers.
From one direction came the so-called Janjaweed militia on horseback and camelback - whether these were Janjaweed from Sudan or Chad, it is hard to know.
It appears that they consisted of a mix of various ethnicities, not solely Arab, and in some cases the assailants were known to the villagers.
The other prong of the attack appears to have been led by an unknown faction of Chadian rebels.
They were wearing military uniforms, were very well armed, and arrived in vehicles.
Common graves
Given that many essential household goods, food and domestic animals were left behind, the residents had little time to flee.
Sadly, I don't think [that] we're ever going to know the exact number of those who died as people fled in different directions.
Estimates now put the death toll at between 200 to 400.
A lot of bodies were buried in common graves simply as a necessity, because of decomposition occurring in the intense heat.
These communal graves are scattered in all different directions, mainly along the roadside where people were killed, and then buried by their kin who were able to get back there.
Many who survived the initial attack, died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration.
Along the route to the villages abandoned belongings can be seen of those who collapsed.
People displaced by other raids had been living in the villages alongside local residents. Tiero had a combined population of 4,000 and Marena of about 3,500.
It appears that the majority of the villagers have gone to the displacement site of Habile (about 45km west of Marena and Tiero).
The U.N. refugee agency says [that] as many as 400 people were killed in southeastern Chad 10 days ago, during cross-border attacks by Sudanese Janjaweed militia. The death toll is far higher than previous estimates by Chadian authorities that at least 65 people died after attacks on March 31. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.
The newly revised death toll follows a visit by a group of U.N. agency officials on Sunday to the remote area where the attacks occurred. UNHCR Spokesman, Ron Redmond, says [that] the group describes what they saw as "apocalyptic."
"Hundreds upon hundreds of homes had been burned to the ground. A small fire was still burning Sunday in one section of Tiero," he said. "There was an overwhelming stench from the rotting carcasses of animals that had been hit by stray bullets, consumed by fire or which had died of thirst. There were famished and frightened dogs all around. There were many indications that people had little or no time to flee."
Redmond says [that] people left their belongings, food and animals behind in their haste to leave. He says [that] some people collapsed along the route and were brought to Goz Amir health center for treatment. He says [that] many people died where they fell.
Both Sudan and Chad have blamed each other for a series of cross border raids.
The UNHCR [spokesman] says [that] the High Commissioner has been warning of the spread of unrest during the past two years from Darfur to neighboring countries.
"We have seen a dangerous escalation for a long time, not only in Darfur, but in Chad and the Central African Republic," he added. "And, that situation is continuing, as evidenced by the tragedy that we just saw in these two villages over the past week."
It says [that] more than 9,000 Chadians, mainly women and children, from 31 villages are at a new camp for internally displaced people. They join another 9,000 who had fled earlier raids in the region.
The UNHCR assists more than 220,000 refugees who have fled the conflict in Darfur, and around 120,000 internally displaced Chadians.
Attacks by militiamen in southeastern Chad last month killed as many as 400 villagers and forced thousands more to flee their homes, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.
The March 31 attacks were possibly carried out by Arab militiamen known as the Janjaweed from neighboring Sudan's Darfur region, said the UNHCR, which previously estimated [that] 65 people had been killed.
``Many who survived the initial attack, particularly those most vulnerable, such as the elderly and young children, died in subsequent days from exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing,'' UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva yesterday [Tuesday], according to the UN Web site.
The four-year-old conflict in Darfur and ethnic violence and a rebellion against Chadian President Idriss Deby have created a humanitarian crisis in eastern Chad. About a quarter of a million refugees from Darfur now live in the region, and recent violence has displaced 120,000 Chadians from their homes.
Chad and Sudan blame each other for allowing cross-border raids by rebels and militiamen, and have refused the deployment of a UN-mandated force of peacekeepers to patrol the border.
Soldiers from the neighboring countries clashed two days ago after Chadian troops chased rebels into Sudanese territory, Agence France-Presse reported. At least 30 people were killed, AFP said, citing an unidentified Chadian government spokesman.
Chad defended its right to cross the border in pursuit of rebels, and accused the Sudanese government of providing protection for the insurgents' retreat, the news agency said.
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