Ghadames, 18 August:
A distress call requesting urgent medical help has been made to the Ministry of Health by displaced Tuaregs living . . .[restrict]in the remote eastern town of Derj.
Requests were made for medical supplies and trained staff to improve the limited capability of the Derj health centre.
With inadequate medical facilities the centre is trying to deal with multiple cases of gastroenteritis. High temperatures in the region have also recently led to cases of sunstroke.
The Tuareg also raised the point that Derj is plagued by poor telecommunications. Residents are often forced to travel to Sinanon in order to make a telephone call.
Many Tuareg were forced to leave their hometown Ghadames, some 50 miles east of Derj, following clashes there last September. Subsequent clashes between Tuareg and Ghadames brigadesmen, notably in May, have meant that a number of the tribal group have not returned and have since been living in nearby Derj and Awaal.
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