Refugee camps in Chad housing some 200,000 Sudanese fleeing fighting in Darfur are near capacity and placing a huge burden on Sudan's impoverished western neighbour, the United Nations said today.
Another 35,000 Sudanese, victims of fresh attacks by Arab militia inside Darfur, are threatening to cross into Chad shortly, the UN refugee agency's regional operations director Mr Jean-Marie Fakhouri said.
Mr Fakhouri said one man had described how his mother was killed just days ago as she tended cows while others had told him of attacks and rapes by militia riding horses and camels.
He also told reporters he was worried about displaced Darfuris living outside the safe areas set up to protect them from the militia.
"In Chad we have 10 refugee camps with a total of about 180,000 refugees and there's about 15,000 who are still on the border, but I think we are very close to reaching capacity," he said in the Southern Darfur state capital Nyala.
The UN says the fighting in Darfur has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis with more than 1 million displaced and about 50,000 killed.
The crisis erupted last year when two rebel groups revolted following years of long conflict between Arab nomads and African farmers over scarce resources in Darfur.
The rebels accuse the government of arming Arab militias known as Janjaweed to loot and burn African villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Khartoum denies the charge and calls the Janjaweed outlaws.
Mr Fakhouri said the Chad camps could take more refugees, but added: "Any additional influx into Chad is going to clearly put an unbearable weight on the shoulders of that government.
"We do have the capacity on the other side ... but the situation is very strained."
The Sudanese government has less than two weeks to show the UN Security Council it has made progress towards achieving security in Darfur, the size of France, or face possible sanctions.
Sudan has agreed to establish safe areas for internally displaced people (IDP).
But Mr Fakhouri said: "My concern is that it is not clear what is going to happen in terms of security for the many villages and IDP concentrations that just happen to fall outside the safe areas."
Mr Fakhouri said he had visited a town on the Sudan-Chad border where 35,000 people who had fled their villages were planning to walk to Chad as soon as a river blocking them had dried out.