Obama Visits Sudanese Refugees in Chad

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., vists a camp in Chad where 15,000 Sudanese citizens have taken refugee after being forced out of their homeland by armed gangs, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006.Thousands of Sudanese refugees crowded Obama on Saturday as he visited their camp in eastern Chad and delivered a single message: Bring in the United Nations. The refugees told Obama an international peacekeeping force is the only hope they have of returning to their normal lives in Sudan's western region of Darfur. (AP Photo/Christopher Wills) (Christopher Wills - AP)

MILE REFUGEE CAMP, Chad -- Thousands of Sudanese refugees crowded around U.S. Sen. Barack Obama Saturday as he visited their camp in eastern Chad and delivered a single message: Bring in the United Nations.

The refugees told Obama an international peacekeeping force is the only hope they have of returning to their normal lives in Sudan's western region of Darfur. Some carried banners held up on sticks demanding U.N. action.

A man who identified himself only as Musadigo said he and his family of seven have been living in the refugee camp, which is home to about 15,000 people, since fleeing his home three years ago. Chad now hosts more than 200,000 refugees from Darfur.

"We want the U.N. force," he said. "We won't be able to go home without the U.N."

Sudan rejected as "illegal" a U.N. Security Council resolution passed Thursday paving the way for the replacement of 7,000 ill-equipped African Union peacekeepers in Darfur with more than 20,000 U.N. troops and police.

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government. The government is accused of unleashing Arab militiamen known as janjaweed who have been blamed for widespread atrocities.

About 200,000 people have died and some 2 million have been displaced by the conflict.

A peace deal in May signed by the government and one of the ethnic African rebel groups operating in the region has had little effect on the conflict.

Obama said the U.S. and other western nations must work to put a peacekeeping force in Darfur, in hopes of preventing further violence.

"My overarching sense is the great urgency about the need to get a U.N. protective force on the ground. We can't wait," he said. "If we wait much longer I think it's fair to say the people we saw today and many who remain in Darfur are going to be in an even worse situation than they are now."

The camp he visited lies about 31 miles inside Chad, far enough from Darfur that violence is rare, but close enough that an escalation there could lead to attacks on the camp.

Obama suggested the U.S. needs a special envoy to focus on the issue and said the U.N. might possibly have to move in without Sudan's permission.

Obama met with a group of women at the camp to talk about their experiences. He also met with camp leaders who said they ultimately want compensation for losses they have suffered and want to see the janjaweed brought to justice.

Obama, the only black U.S. Senator, is winding down his trip to Africa, which began Aug. 18 in South Africa. Obama's father was a native of Kenya.