Sudan: 500,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad in dire need of aid. Testimonies recount unspeakable horrors

“Testimonies recount unspeakable horrors - family members killed, women enduring heinous acts of abduction and sexual violence, and homes reduced to ashes. Despite the tireless efforts of humanitarian organisations and the welcoming gestures from the host communities and the government of Chad, the situation is close to catastrophic.” -Stephen Cornish, MSF Director General 

“They told us that this wasn’t our country and gave us two options: immediately leave for Chad or be killed. They took some men and I saw them shooting them in the streets, with no one to bury the corpses.” -H., A refugee who fled to Adre from El Geneina X

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aka Doctors Without Borders

Statement by Stephen Cornish, MSF Director General 

Dated 22 December 2023 - here is a copy in full:

Half a million Sudanese refugees in Chad in dire need of humanitarian aid

This week, I visited the camps in eastern Chad to witness the living conditions of Sudanese refugees. 

I have worked as a humanitarian worker in countries across the globe, but what I saw in Chad in this emergency has shocked me to my core.

With such a rapid and vast displacement of people fleeing harrowing violence, the overwhelming nature of how many people have sought refuge here and knowing what made them flee is really hard on the heart.

So many people seeking refuge in the desert are relying on humanitarian aid, which is inadequate and sporadic. This cannot go on. 

Despite the tireless efforts of humanitarian organisations and the welcoming gestures from the host communities and the government of Chad, the situation is close to catastrophic.

From insufficient access to food, water and shelter, to concerns about proper hygiene, it’s a daily struggle for those who have left almost everything behind. Approximately 150,000 individuals in Adre transit camp and the surrounding areas live week to week, navigating through precarious conditions to survive.  

The limited food distributions happen irregularly and the amount distributed typically lasts only a couple of weeks. On top of that, not everyone is receiving these distributions.

In Adre, there’s one latrine for 300 to 400 people - far below the recommend standards. Despite tremendous efforts put forth by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and local partners, delivering half a million litres of water daily, refugees only receive between six to eight litres per day.

People don't have enough water to bathe, to clean, or to cook. They don’t have suitable jerry cans in order to be able to collect and store water properly.

We've already seen a very high incidence of malnutrition, as well as high numbers of people suffering from diarrhoea and malaria. Speaking with the doctors here this week, the number of cases of malaria has decreased but it is still widespread.  

Our role now is to ensure enough assistance together with other partners going forward so we don't end up in another catastrophic situation several months down the road. Today, people can survive for the next couple of months, but what will happen after that?  

An elderly person collects water from a distribution point. Refugees here only receive between six to eight litres per day for drinking, bathing, cooking and cleaning. Chad, 7 December 2023. 

RENAUD MASBEYE/MSF

There are many organisations here on the ground, but they don't have the financial resources to meet the needs of the people. So, we need governments, we need donor countries to help organisations on the ground to scale up and meet the emergency needs, from shelter to water to food.  

The people suffering in this crisis are predominantly women and children, while many are also victims of large-scale violence.

Their testimonies recount unspeakable horrors - family members killed, women enduring heinous acts of abduction and sexual violence, and homes reduced to ashes. Their sole aspiration is to find a safe haven in Chad and be able to live in decent and dignified conditions.  

These people, relocated in the desert, cannot face this ordeal alone. This cannot be put aside and forgotten as just another crisis. Solid and sustained humanitarian commitments, and an urgent scale up of aid efforts on the ground are urgently required to avoid a catastrophic crisis and large-scale misery in the months to come. 

View the original report:

English  https://www.msf.org/half-million-sudanese-refugees-chad-dire-need-humanitarian-aid

Arabic https://www.msf.org/ar/نصف-مليون-لاجئ-سوداني-في-تشاد-في-حاجة-ماسة-للمساعدات-الإنسانية

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In Chad camps, survivors recount Sudan war horrors, many in critical condition physically & psychologically

AFTER surviving atrocities in their homeland Sudan and the perilous journey abroad, the refugees are now confronting the looming threat of famine. The scarcity of water in the camps in Chad has generated tensions that humanitarian organisations have struggled to calm. Read more.

From France24
By Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Dated Saturday, 23 December 2023 - 17:27 - here is a copy in full:

In Chad camps, survivors recount Sudan war horrors

Adré (Chad) (AFP) – Sitting outside her makeshift shelter in eastern Chad, Sudanese refugee Mariam Adam Yaya warmed up tea on some firewood in a bid to quell the pangs of hunger.

Thousands of Sudanese have fled for neighbouring Chad and found refuge in overcrowded camps such as Adre © Denis Sassou Gueipeur / AFP

The 34-year-old from the Masalit ethnic group crossed the border on foot after a four-day trek with no provisions and her eight-year-old son clinging to her back.

She said "heavily armed" men attacked her village, forcing her to flee and leave seven of her children behind amid brutal violence that has sparked fears of ethnic cleansing.

Sudan has since April 15 been plunged into a civil war pitting army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, his former deputy and commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Thousands have fled for neighbouring Chad and found refuge in overcrowded camps such as Adre where Yaya has settled.

In the western Darfur region, paramilitary operations have left civilian victims belonging to the non-Arab Masalit group in what the United Nations and NGOs say is a suspected genocide.

In the West Darfur town of Ardamata alone, armed groups killed more than 1,000 people in November, according to the European Union.

"What we went through in Ardamata is horrifying. The Rapid Support Forces killed elderly people and children indiscriminately," Yaya told AFP.

Trauma

Chad, a country in central Africa that is the world's second least developed according to the United Nations, has hosted the highest number of Sudanese refugees.

The UN says 484,626 people have sheltered there since the fighting broke out, with armed groups forcing more than 8,000 people to flee to Chad in one week.

The United States and other Western nations have accused the RSF and its allies of committing crimes against humanity and acts of ethnic cleansing 

© Denis Sassou Gueipeur / AFP

Formal camps managed by NGOs and informal settlements erected spontaneously have sprouted throughout the border region of Ouaddai.

A traumatised Amira Khamis, 46, said she was targeted due to her Masalit ethnicity and has lost five of her children.

Recovering in an emergency medical structure run by the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) near the Adre camp after shrapnel fractured her feet, she told AFP women and young girls were raped.

"They systematically kill all the people of dark black colour," she said.

Mahamat Nouredine, a 19-year-old who is nursing a fractured arm and has lost four relatives in the violence, said the RSF mercilessly hounded the Masalit community before he escaped to Chad.

"A group of RSF followed us to a hospital and tried to kill everyone... they laid us on the ground in groups of 20 and fired at us," he said.

"Their unspoken goal is to kill people due to their skin colour."

'Critical conditions'

The United States and other Western nations have accused the RSF and its allies of committing crimes against humanity and acts of ethnic cleansing.

An estimate by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project puts the war's death toll at 12,000. Almost seven million people have fled their homes, according to the UN.

After surviving atrocities in their homeland and the perilous journey abroad, the refugees are now confronting the looming threat of famine.

The scarcity of water in the camps has generated tensions that humanitarian organisations have struggled to calm © Denis Sassou Gueipeur / AFP

Yaya said she and her child have "barely" eaten since their arrival in Chad.

The scarcity of water in the camps has generated tensions that humanitarian organisations have struggled to calm.

Gerard Uparpiu, MSF's project coordinator in Adre, said the influx of Sudanese refugees was creating a "worrying" situation.

"We receive them in critical conditions. They are shaken physically and psychologically," he added.

MSF's hospital is surrounded by fencing and constantly monitored by a guard, measures necessitated by the brutality of a conflict that has not spared the wounded.

"They also attacked us when I was being taken to Chad to receive treatment," said Amir Adam Haroun, a Masalit refugee whose leg was broken by an explosive.

View original: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231223-in-chad-camps-survivors-recount-sudan-war-horrors

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Sudan Climate Change: Root causes of Darfur conflict

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Taking time out to search Sudan Watch's archives and collate various posts from the past 20 years. They are taking hours to find and prepare for a series of posts focussing on peace and the alleviation of poverty and extreme poverty in Sudan and South Sudan.

To start, here is an excerpt from a post published July 14, 2006 entitled:

'The root causes of the Darfur conflict: A struggle over controlling an environment that can no longer support all the people who must live on it'

DARFUR IN THE EYES OF A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER

Environmentalist Wangari Maathai who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize stated to The Washington Post on May 12, 2005 that:

"Darfur is an example of a situation where a dire scarcity of natural resources is manipulated by politicians for their own ambition. To outsiders, the conflict is seen as tribal warfare. At its roots, though, it is a struggle over controlling an environment that can no longer support all the people who must live on it. You must not deal only with the symptoms you have to get to the root causes by promoting environmental rehablitation and empowering people to do things for themselves. What is done for the people without involving them can not be sustained."

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2006/07/root-causes-of-darfur-conflict.html

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