More than 34,000 Sudanese refugees arrived in Chad: UNHCR

August 28, 2024 (ANDRE) – Over 634,000 people from more than 178,000 households from Sudan have arrived in Chad since conflict broke out mid-April last year, putting enormous strain on the host nation, the United Nations said.

The provinces, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) include, Quaddai (447, 617), Sila (93,841), Wadi Fira (85, 674) and Ennedi-Est (7,046) refugees.

Over 580,000 refugees from 164,209 households have so far been registered. They have been classified or categorized as women at risk, single parent, old person at risk, child at risk, older person at risk, persons with disabilities, among others.

At least 89 per cent of the refugees in Chad are women and children, with women accounting for 26 percent. Many of them lack basic health care for their families.

The Chadian government already estimate that the number of refugees and returnees in Chad could reach 910,000 by the end of 2024, given the persistence of conflicts in Sudan as well as the constant influx of new refugees and returnees.

Since fighting broke out in mid-April last year, more than 10 million people have been forced from their homes, the largest number in the world. But while most of them are still in Sudan, about 2 million have crossed into neighbouring countries

Hundreds of Sudanese refugees are still fleeing across the border to Chad every day, yet dozens of the existing overcrowded camps and haphazard settlements in eastern Chad are reportedly suffering shortages of food and health care.

Meanwhile Chadian authorities, UNHCR and the UN Migration Agency (IOM) cited an influx of people forced to flee including Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees who arrived spontaneously in Chad, through over 32 border entry points mainly in the provinces of Ouaddai, Sila, Wadi-Fira and Ennedi Est in Eastern Chad.

Humanitarian workers are supporting the Chadian Government and local authorities to provide life-saving assistance and a set of protection services both in spontaneous sites, in the extension of old and the newly established settlements.

The Chadian government and UNHCR, have so far relocated 49 per cent of the refugees from the spontaneous arrival sites to the extension and newly established settlements where refugees and host communities benefit from the services delivered by the humanitarian teams.

(ST)