Emergency water supplies in eastern Chad are overstretched and may not be able to meet the needs of thousands of people fleeing fighting in the area, aid agency Oxfam International warned Friday.

In a statement issued in Nairobi, the British charity said it may have to cut the daily rations allotted to the tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees living in camps in southeastern Chad, which currently adhere to international standards of 15 liters per person per day.

"Our pumps and generators are working at full capacity to fulfill existing needs, but if there is no more water in the ground, there is nothing we can do," said Roland Van Hauwermeiren, the head of Oxfam's operations in eastern Chad in a statement.

"Our biggest concern is that our pumping station in Goz Beida, where many displaced people are arriving, is already working at full capacity to provide 350,000 liters of water to the camp and the community every day. If more people arrive, we may find it difficult to help them," he said.

Oxfam called on all actors engaged in efforts to bring peace to Chad and Darfur to work more effectively together and exert greater influence on the parties to the conflict to immediately halt the attacks on civilians so as to prevent an already volatile situation from deteriorating further.

Hauwermeiren, who visited the southeastern town of Beida on Tuesday, where more than 4,000 Chadians have arrived since last week, said hundreds of displaced Chadians have been arriving daily to safe areas near the refugee camps following a week of attacks on villages that has left dozens of casualties.

A state of emergency was imposed in eastern Chad this week after ethnic attacks on more than ten villages in the area bordering Sudan's western Darfur region.

Heavily armed attackers have razed entire villages to the ground, further fueling the tensions in the restive area on both sides of the border.

"As we cannot deprive these new arrivals of water, we will have to find other solutions, such as reducing the water available every day or trucking in water, until the security situation stabilizes and people are comfortable going home," said Hauwermeiren.

Oxfam backed United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call earlier this week to ensure the protection of refugees and displaced people and reduce the threat of cross-border attacks.

It also encouraged all actors to adopt a coherent, coordinated approach to the challenges of peace and conflict resolution in the restive central African region.

Source: Xinhua