December 5, 2006 - Guereda remained calm Tuesday as the military used helicopters to evacuate wounded four days after the eastern Chad market town was seized briefly by rebel forces.

Four International Medical Corps staff members also departed by air as part of a process of relocating non-essential members of the international humanitarian relief agency in the wake of the fighting. More relief workers were expected to leave in the coming days. In addition, the World Food Program announced suspension of non-emergency food aid for 50,000 people in the area, temporarily halting food programs for school children and food-for-work projects.

Tuesday's developments came after rebel troops took over the town last Friday after a bloody 2-hour battle. Countless were killed and more than 80 wounded in the fighting. Rebel troops left early Saturday, taking most of their wounded with them. IMC medical teams, who run the town's only medical facility, have been treating the wounded.

Guereda is located just 25 miles west of the frontier with Darfur and the Chadian government has accused Khartoum of supporting the rebels. Last month, Chadian rebels briefly captured another eastern town, Abeche. The unrest has added to the broader instability in the region that includes Darfur, where as many as 3 million people have been affected by a 3-year-old conflict between Sudanese government forces and anti-government rebels.

In Chad, IMC offers primary health care and nutrition services for 58,000 refugees from Darfur, (approximately 20% of the total refugee population) in three camps—Kounoungo, Mille and Am Nabak—as well as for thousands of Chadians in the surrounding host communities. IMC also operates a series of primary health clinics in West and South Darfur, providing medical care to a population of about one quarter of a million persons.

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