Traumatised Central Africans spill into Chad

DOSSEYE REFUGEE CAMP, Chad, Mar 12 (Reuters) Adama Abdulai is 30 but she looks a decade older.

Her eyes glazed over, her hair matted and unkempt, she stares blankly into the distance, half-naked.

One night Abdulai tore up her family's last few banknotes into tiny pieces.

Last week she tried to kill her baby.

Her family says she has lost her mind since she crossed into Chad to escape conflict at home in Central African Republic three months ago.

''We know that before leaving CAR she was healthy, but when she crossed the border she started being very aggressive,'' said Josiane Nguerebaye of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, cradling Abdulai's 4-month-old boy, Dairu.

''This is the third case of mental health problems we've seen in the camp,'' Nguerebaye told Reuters.

''Most just sit quietly, they are very traumatised. But Adama is extremely aggressive, she attacks people. Her family chained her up once, but we told them to untie her.'' United Nations agencies estimate 220,000 Central Africans have been forced from their homes by violence -- some 50,000 of them crossing to Chad -- since shadowy rebels opposed to President Francois Bozize launched a low-level campaign in 2005.

Many trekked for days or weeks through dense forests, living off leaves, berries or whatever they could find in the bush.

They say law and order has completely broken down in northern provinces of CAR.

''It's the rebels and the military,'' said Fatuma Ibrahim, who crossed to Chad last week after a rebel attack on her town of Paoua in January.

''There have been many attacks but the last one was very heavy. Even the leaves in the trees were destroyed by bullets.

Everyone's shooting each other,'' she said.

''Government presence there is rare,'' Vladimir Mijovic, UNHCR head for southern Chad, told Reuters.

''This population is so traumatised they make no distinction between rebels of whichever side, coupeurs du route (bandits), gangs or government forces. They simply feel harassed and persecuted by everyone,'' Mijovic said.

CHILDREN KIDNAPPED ''Most people don't even wear uniforms. All refugees know is that there was shooting, looting, people killed, women raped, children kidnapped,'' he said.

A power vacuum has allowed bandits, known locally as ''zaraginas'', to kidnap hundreds of children, demanding ransoms sometimes running to thousands of dollars.

''Bandits took my son hostage,'' said Issa Adamou, another new refugee.

''They kept him in the bush for 30 days. Finally I sold all of my cows -- more than of 50 of them -- to pay 1.5 million CFA (,000), and they gave him back.

''I'm finished now, I have no hope of returning. I've lost everything.'' Some of those kidnapped never come home.

Erti is a widow. Three weeks ago she watched helplessly as her husband was murdered.

''Bandits came and kidnapped my 15-year-old-son,'' she explained. ''But he managed to escape and hid in the bush. The kidnappers became angry and came back to our house looking for my husband. My children ran away in fear. Then I saw my husband taken to one side, and they shot him dead.'' Villagers in northern Central African Republic say government forces, including Bozize's presidential guard, have burned dozens of villages and opened fire on civilians. Rebels also attack, and loot whatever they can find.

Aid workers in southern Chad are struggling to deal with the influx of new arrivals.

Hundreds have crossed the border in the last few weeks alone, and refugees warn scores more are in the bush behind them, still trying to reach safety in Chad.

''Practically every day when we go to monitor the border we have new arrivals,'' said Mijovic of UNHCR.

''We might have a couple of thousand more by the end of 2007, but then again we might have 10,000 more, depending on the scale of violence and insecurity in this part of CAR.

''There's anarchy. There's a lot of insecurity ... we're struggling because we have very limited resources,'' he said.

REUTERS SB BST0856