Dakar, Senegal, February 6, 2008 - Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is preparing to respond to thousands of Chadian refugees fleeing the country into neighboring Cameroon after violence broke out in the capital of N'Djamena last weekend.

On Wednesday morning, the capital was calm and many Chadians are using the break in fighting to flee into the northern Cameroon city of Kousseri. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports at least 20,000 Chadians have crossed into northern Cameroon.

CRS Chad Country Representative Christophe Droeven was one of over 200 people trapped in a French school in N'Djamena, where gun-fire could be heard less than 30 meters away from the building.

"The walls were shaking and everyone was crouched under the tables," Droeven recounts. "We opened the windows so they didn't shatter on us, and we were talking to the children, trying to keep them calm. We were under the tables for 7 hours."

"The situation in Kousseri is really quite serious," said Jennifer Nazaire, CRS Cameroon country representative. "Chadians are pouring out of N'Djamena, and there's little set up to receive them at the moment. The Catholic Church in Kousseri, the local government, United Nations, and aid agencies are all scrambling to work out temporary and longer-term measures to host people."

CRS is working with our partners in Cameroon, including Caritas and the local church, to conduct an assessment of refugee needs in border areas of Cameroon. CRS' response will also be in coordination with Caritas International and French and German Catholic partners, Secours Catholic and MISEREOR.

As of Tuesday, the local Catholic church in Kousseri was housing some 7,000 refugees in its school, health center and presbytery. The Diocese of Yagoua, of which Kousseri is a part, has purchased rice and will start initial food distributions. In the next couple of days, CRS partners in Kousseri expect more than 50,000 refugees will arrive in northern Cameroon, more than was originally estimated by UNHCR.

Another local partner, Secours Catholique et Developpement (Catholic Relief and Development) continues food distributions to the Farchana refugee camp in eastern Chad, the area that borders Sudan, despite deteriorating security in the area. The agency is concerned over the vulnerability of supply lines to the camps in eastern Chad, which could threaten the health and security of the more than 200,000 refugees and displaced persons.

CRS has been working in Cameroon since 1960 and in Chad since 2002.

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Catholic Relief Services is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency provides assistance to people in more than 100 countries and territories based on need, regardless of race, nationality or creed. For more information, please visit www.crs.org.