Chad: Would-be refugees going hungry in forest

In four major refugee camps less than 40 kilometres north of Bekoningka, the southern Chadian border village, basic shelter and protection is provided to 48,000 CAR refugees by the UN's refugee agency UNHCR. But new arrivals have been told by the local authorities that they must wait to be registered at Bekoningka before they can move to the camps. Life for the squatters is hard, even by local standards, in a region where few can afford even the basics, and low prices for cotton, the region's main crop, has devastated incomes this year.