|PIC1|Defying the ongoing security threats, church-based aid agencies are continuing their work in eastern Chad amidst reports of banditry and fears that the arrival of rain may further hamper the task.

“While calm has returned to the eastern part of Chad after heavy fighting between Chadian soldiers and rebel militias in early May, our emergency operations are still hampered by ongoing banditry,” said Action by Churches Together (ACT).

In contrast to the fighting between the government soldiers and rebel groups, Dr Colette Bouka-Coula, the regional programme officer for ACT member the Lutheran World Federation, said that one of “the more significant and ongoing concerns for our daily work is the unknown armed groups and bandits that ambush vehicles and threaten our efforts”.

The ongoing security challenges were underscored this week by the theft of a vehicle belonging to the LWF.

”While the staffs were unharmed in the hijacking near Farchana, the loss of the UNHCR-donated vehicle and continual threats of banditry continue to be a daily reality,” said ACT.

Continued support

Due to an attack from the rebel group Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), aid agencies were forced to vacate the area at the beginning of May. They have now resumed their work for the past three weeks, reports Dr Bouka-Coula, after the UN’s peace keeping force were able to establish a camp.

“However, staff must follow security precautions and travel in convoys,” said the LWF officer.

The security threats faced by the staff of LWF are not unlike the threats to communities over the course of the past several years.

“People who are traumatised need to be involved in activities and occupy their days and hours in doing things,” Dr Bouka-Coula said, pointing to the LWF's work with internally displaced Chadians near Koukou, a small town in the border area with Darfur, Sudan.

“We are trying to assist those who suffer from the conflict," added, Dr Bouka-Coula, who has just returned to Geneva from managing the LWF operation in Chad.

The LWF is engaged in providing both group therapy opportunities and individual counselling where necessary.

“Using a group approach for supporting survivors allows individuals to be included in community activities and not further marginalised,” she said.

She says that women are receiving special attention, particularly those who are pregnant or in need pf additional care.

Recently, the LWF programme completed the construction of three community centres in the camps, which provide space for community groups including women’s livelihood programmes and youth sporting activities.

Fear of the coming rains

Since 2003, Chad has sheltered 265,000 Sudanese refugees in the east and 58,000 Central African refugees in the south, while internal conflicts have caused the internal displacement of 180,000 Chadians in the east.

With the growing humanitarian needs, ACT and the LWF started to respond in 2007. Lately, however, the delivery of assistance has been impeded by the deteriorating security situation and the start of the rainy season "may yet stop certain operations", the LWF warns.

Despite the security challenges faced by the staff and communities alike, the LWF has been working hard to preposition supplies in preparation for the approaching rainy season.

“When the rains come, it is impossible to transport anything. The roads are gone,” says Dr Bouka-Coula, adding that many items including food and non-food items, baby kits, stove materials and construction supplies have all been purchased and stored.

One of the plans that LWF has for the coming months is to assist families in the camps to improve their shelters. In addition, the LWF staff have just finished the distribution of clothes and school, baby and hygiene kits, donated by Lutheran World Relief.

Dr Bouka-Coula, who helped oversee the distribution, says that this kind of participation is critical to help communities regain ownership of their lives and improve the transparency of the response.