ANGELINA JOLIE ARRIVES TO SUPPORT CHAD
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[ June 5th 2004 ]

UNHCR's Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie is in eastern Chad today to spend two days working alongside UNHCR's field staff in their efforts to assist the Sudanese refugees and move them to camps at a safer distance from the border. She will be going to camps which have been receiving refugees relocated from the border. She also plans to spend some time at the border itself to see first-hand the conditions of the refugees there and help with distribution of emergency rations and relocation operations.

Hundreds of new refugees have fled into eastern Chad this week. At the same time, we are opening a new camp today and increasing our transport capacity in the southernmost part of the border region, where heavy rains have already begun to cut off roads and make access difficult. A UNHCR emergency airlift is also continuing. UNHCR staff in Chad just reported this morning that hundreds of new refugees are continuing to arrive around the border town of Adre, reportedly fleeing new fighting in Sudan's Tundubai, Koulbous and Kornoya districts.

The influx began on Tuesday and shows no sign of slowing. We're sending additional staff and have increased our trucking capacity in Adre so we can more quickly move refugees to the newly constructed camp of Bredjing, which opened just over a week ago. The new camp opening today, Djabal, is the eighth set up so far and the second in the southern section of the 600-km-long affected region.