OneWorld.net (U.S.)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 16 (OneWorld) - While already finding it hard to get into the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, aid groups say it is becoming increasingly difficult to help displaced people in neighboring Chad as well.

"In some areas, you have got 12,000 to 15,000 people with no latrine," says Roland Van Hauwermeiren, head of the humanitarian aid group Oxfam International in Chad.

On Thursday, Oxfam and other groups warned that if the ongoing violence in the region did not stop very soon, it would be hard for them to prevent an outbreak of infectious diseases like cholera and diarrhea.

As a result of armed attacks on villages by warring groups, more than 120,000 people have fled their homes and are now living in the eastern part of Chad, which is already home to more than 230,000 refugees from Darfur.

"Animal and human waste is scattered throughout the area where displaced Chadians have settled, with their children walking barefoot," according to Van Hauwermeiren, who describes the situation in eastern Chad as "out of control."

Currently, Oxfam is providing clean water to 30,000 people in and around the town of Goz Beida, but the group has been forced to cut its staff due to an escalation of attacks on civilians, including humanitarian workers.

"Eastern Chad is one of the hardest places to find water," Van Hauwermeiren says, noting that despite best efforts by his group, people are able to receive only four to five liters of water per day while they should be getting at least 15 liters.

Doctors Without Borders (also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres), a Paris-based humanitarian organization that has a large presence in West Darfur, is also confronted with similar difficulties.

"We have had to pull international teams out of places that are too dangerous and move them back into camps and cities," said Nicolas de Torrente, the group's director in the United States.

In Darfur, more than 400,000 people have been killed and 2 million others displaced from their homes, according to advocacy groups, and an estimated 4 million people now depend on humanitarian aid to survive. Last month, Ban Ki-moon, the new UN chief, described the situation there as "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world."

Cross-border raids staged from Darfur have spurred on the inter-ethnic violence in Chad.

Oxfam says it wants the UN Security Council to take "urgent and immediate" action to stop the violence in Chad, and make sure its efforts are focused on protecting civilians caught up in the armed conflict.

"Should the Security Council decide to deploy a force this month," the group said, "UN member-states must make financial, logistical, and human resources available for a full deployment immediately."

UN officials acknowledge that the humanitarian conditions in eastern Chad are fast deteriorating and that the organization needs to take immediate action.

"The situation there is really dicey," UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told OneWorld. She said the Security Council was due to discuss the situation in Chad today, but postponed its meeting because a key report on the fighting has not been released yet.

The report is expected to be submitted to the Council in the next few days. After that the Council will consider whether to send a peacekeeping mission to Chad.

Oxfam said the UN peace efforts must include steps to ensure that humanitarian workers can rovide assistance to those in need without coming under fire or attack by armed groups.

"It is crucial that any international force in Chad communicate clearly with all parties to the conflict about its focus on the civilian population," the group added in a statement.

Stressing the need for an inclusive national dialogue between a wide range of government, opposition, and civil society organizations, the group observed that "there can be no sustainable peace in Chad without a political process."

As for Darfur, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council is due to discuss a fact-finding report on the situation there next month. The report is being prepared by a five-member team led by Jodi Williams, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize for her campaign against landmines.

The mission was established by the Council last December to probe the human rights situation in Darfur, which has been beset by a number of instances of abuse, including mass rape, kidnappings, and forced relocations, since the fighting broke out between government forces, its allied militias, and rebel groups in 2003.