Rebel fighters in Chad say they have launched a new offensive in the east of the country and called on European powers to press Idriss Deby, the president, for a political settlement. The fighters intend to march on the capital Ndjamena, Abderaman Koulamallah, a spokesman for the National Alliance, said on Thursday.

Increased corruption and controls on nongovernmental organizations placed Chad on a list of the world’s most repressive societies for the first time, putting the country on par with China, Zimbabwe and Syria. The finding is part of the Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2008, a new report released by Freedom House.

The European Union military force in Chad does not have enough troops to escort humanitarian convoys in the conflict-torn eastern region where a French aid worker was killed by gunmen, a force spokesman said on Friday.

Just over two months after the latest major eruption of fighting in Sudan's West Darfur region, the UN refugee agency has transferred some 5,400 new Sudanese refugees to two camps in eastern Chad. But UNHCR estimates that another 8,000 people remain scattered in several villages along the volatile Chad-Sudan border.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has provided temporary housing and relief supplies to more than 2,000 Darfurians who were left homeless after a fire swept through part of the Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad last week. The agency has distributed mats, blankets, kitchen sets and jerry cans to some 2,130 refugees from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, who are currently being housed in three schools at the camp until family tents arrive in the coming days.