French Begin Darfur Deployment

The French Embassy organized a press meeting in Chad’s capital N’djamena. Charles said that nearly 200 French troops in Chad will be shifted to the Chad-Sudan border.

French President Jacques Chirac yesterday ordered that French military units already deployed in Chad should be mobilized for humanitarian aid purposes because of the serious situation in Darfur.

Nearly 30,000 people reportedly lost their lives in violent clashes over the past 17 months between the Arab Janjaweed militias and indigenous tribes in Sudan. Over one million people have fled their homes for neighboring Chad, and nearly 2.2 million now face starvation.