(Adds comment by Chad's foreign minister in paragraphs 4-5, 12) By Stephanie Hancock N'DJAMENA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Around 70 Austrian troops flew into Chad on Tuesday to join a European Union security force that is deploying in the Central African country's eastern borderlands to protect refugees fleeing violence. As the Austrian contingent disembarked, the United Nations reported that recent attacks in Sudan's Darfur had pushed thousands of new refugees, some previously uprooted by fighting, over the border into eastern Chad. "The latest arrivals are mainly women, children and elderly people and they are extremely traumatised," William Spindler, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said in Geneva. At the United Nations in New York, Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi told a news conference, "Ten to fifteen thousand people have arrived at our borders." "We did not want to have to deal with more refugees because we already have enough problems with refugees in Chad," he said. The Austrian soldiers -- 49 regular troops and some 20 special forces members -- were the latest contingent to swell the ranks of the European Union force (EUFOR), which has a U.N. mandate to provide security for refugee camps sheltering more than 400,000 people in eastern Chad. Austrian officers said they were not deterred by an attack earlier this month on the Chadian capital N'Djamena by rebels fighting to topple President Idriss Deby. "Of course these happenings make things a little bit complicated, but we are well informed and well trained and our families have all the information necessary to convince them that things here are not so bad after all," Major Ortwin Gamener told Reuters on the tarmac at N'Djamena's national airport. MOST TROOPS FROM FRANCE The Austrian contingent, which will eventually total up to 140 soldiers, is to be deployed in Abeche, the eastern Chadian town that serves as a hub for humanitarian operations by dozens of U.N. and other international relief agencies. As part of the EU force, whose total strength will be 3,700, French soldiers are already on the ground in N'Djamena and Abeche. A group of Irish Army Rangers arrived last week, following Swedish Special Forces troops the week before. In all, 14 EU nations are contributing, but more than half of the total will come from France, which has troops and planes in its former colony under a military cooperation treaty. Allam-Mi said he understood the force would be operational at the beginning of March, adding that he hoped EUFOR would "dissuade" people from crossing over from Darfur. Commanders had earlier said the end of March. UNHCR's Spindler said the vast majority of new refugees crossing into Chad had already been displaced once or twice by the war that has raged in Darfur since 2003 between Sudanese government forces and local rebels. "All of them fear going back to Darfur and have asked to be moved further inland into Chad, as they do not feel safe near the border," he said. He added UNHCR staff had cited several cases of sexual violence and abuse by militia against girls and women. Two refugee women and two children had also died in eastern Chad this week because of cold temperatures and harsh winds. The U.N. agency said it was also airlifting aid to several thousands of Chadians who had fled to neighbouring Cameroon after the Feb. 2-3 rebel attack on the capital. (Additional reporting by Laura MacInnis in Geneva and Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
People from the Kikuyu tribe displaced during post-election violence rest at a temporary shelter in Nairobi's Mathare slum February 25, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (KENYA) ...
