Some 30,000 refugees have so far arrived in the western Sudanese region of Darfur from neighboring Chad this year, Sudanese and UN refugee agencies said Wednesday.

The Sudanese Commission of Refugees (COR) and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in a joint statement that the 30,000 people had been given the refugee right.

Most of the refugees were Arab nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes, but there were also some non-Arab tribes, said the joint statement.

According to the statement, families interviewed by a joint UNHCR and COR team said that they left Chad after armed men wearing military uniforms entered their homes, searching for weapons, accusing villagers of supporting and participating in militia activities.

Searches often turned violent with looting, beatings, arrests, murders and in some cases rapes committed by these groups, they added.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)