Hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by violence in the east say they can't return to ruined communities
GOZ BEIDA, Chad (AlertNet) – Hundreds of thousands of Chadians uprooted by violence in the country’s east say they can’t go home unless the government improves infrastructure and health services in their towns and villages, aid workers say.
Four years after inter-communal clashes forced people to flee their homes, Chadian authorities believe there is now enough peace and stability for the displaced populations to return.
“Some internally displaced persons (IDPs) have told us they want to return but they say this would be on condition that their safety is ensured and they can access basic social services,” Delphine Marie, a U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman said.
Villages in eastern Chad were ravaged by the violence as well as by confrontations between government forces and various rebel movements.
The first wave of displacement happened at the end of 2005 during attacks by Janjaweed-style mounted raiders from Sudan, Chadian rebels, and Chadian ethnic militias. African ethnic groups targeted in the attacks fled their villages. Clashes - often over water and land - deteriorated in 2006 and 2007.
In the badly affected Dar Sila region, where there are 14 IDP camps, about 17,000 people have returned to their villages. But local authorities admit that most basic social facilities were destroyed in the violence. In some areas people now have to trek or travel by horse-drawn carts for about 80 km to get to a health centre that may sometimes be unequipped or have no staff.
Humanitarian workers say some returnees have opted to go back to the IDP camps and others only go to their villages to grow crops.
“We are all human and it is clear that someone who is provided with food regularly, has a school nearby for his children and has nurses around who can treat him and his family in case of sickness, if this person returns to a place where such amenities are not available, he will be tempted to return (to the camps) to benefit from such help,” the Governor of Dar Sila, Valentin Mouassingar, said.
“But one cannot be a displaced person indefinitely.”
SCARS
Some officials are concerned that what they call an “aid dependency syndrome” is affecting efforts to encourage some people to return to their villages.
But aid workers said it was up to the government to improve facilities outside the camps.
“They cannot blame us for providing basic standards of living in camps. That is what we are supposed to do, the government should do the same in its towns and villages,” said an aid worker who did not want to be named.
The government and the United Nations are improving conditions in some villages, including building houses and a health centre at Louboutigue about 40 km from Goz Beida, the regional headquarters of the Dar Sila region.
But some aid agencies say rebuilding infrastructure is not enough; rifts between communities need to heal as well. Many people have been left psychologically scarred by the violence in which they lost family and property.
“We are ready to assist the government in the voluntary return of IDPs but we would want this to involve some form of reconciliation between the people so that the same causes do not bring about the same effects,” Abakar Mahamat the country director of the Spain based charity, Oxfam-Intermon said.
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