CHAD: Rising numbers of Chadians fleeing the Sudan war are arriving at the Adre border post in Chad, but funding shortages could force UN agencies on the ground to stop operating. The civil conflict in Sudan has already cost tens of thousands of lives and forced more than 12 million people to flee their homes, more than a million of them Chadian, according to UN figures. Government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting since April 2023.
A steady stream of horse-carts arrived at the Adre border post, under the region's scorching desert sun, during a recent visit. In the swirling dust and the crack of whips, some of the makeshift wagons toppled under the weight of their loads, dragging the horses onto their backs, hooves in the air. They leave loaded with cans of petrol and food for Sudan, and return to Chad, in some cases carrying people fleeing the war.
Last week Sung Ah Lee, deputy director general of the UN's International Organization for Migration, visited Adre as part of a three-day visit to the Assoungha region. She met Chadians who had been in Sudan and had fled the war to return home. "When I go there and meet the beneficiaries and hear from them, then go back and meet ambassadors and the donor community, it is important for them to hear what I have seen in person," she said.
In May, the number of Chadians returning from Sudan passed the 400,000 mark. They had initially expected to reach that level by the end of June, Lee said, but the flow of returnees has accelerated. Mahamat Issa Abakar, general secretary of the Assoungha region, confirmed the surge in returnees. "There are more than 5,000 Chadians getting ready to return to Chad from Sudan in the coming days," said Abakar, himself a former aid worker.
"Their representatives came to ask me how they will be taken in here, but I don't know what to tell them," he added. "On our side, we lack the resources." "The Chadians from Sudan returning to Chad have exactly the same needs as the refugees," he added. And yet, he said, looking over at the IOM delegation, they were not as well cared for.
According to figures from the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 900,000 people have sought refuge in Chad since the start of the war in Sudan. They make up one in three people in the eastern provinces of Chad. In Tongori camp, where the IOM says 13,000 people are packed in, Chadians who have fled Sudan speak of a sense of abandonment. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
