In the face of horror, flight. Between 10,000 and 20,000 people have fled the ongoing fighting in Sudan to find refuge in neighboring Chad, according to teams from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) present at the border.
“The majority of those arriving are women and children (…). UNHCR is working closely with the Chadian government and its partners to assess their needs and prepare a joint response,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
UNHCR is also coordinating with the Chadian authorities to help them register new arrivals in the coming days. Between 10,000 and 20,000 people were welcomed, most of them in the department of Assoungha (province of Ouaddai), added the Chadian Minister of Communication and government spokesperson, Aziz Mahamat Saleh.
“Every day people are pouring in and a humanitarian corridor has been opened,” he said. Eastern Chad already hosts more than 400,000 Sudanese refugees and “the new arrivals are putting additional strain on the country’s already overstretched public services and resources”, he said.
The most urgent needs are water, food, shelter, health care, child protection and the prevention of gender-based violence, UNHCR says. Due to the violence experienced by people crossing the border, psychosocial support is also high on the agenda. Since the power struggle, latent for weeks between two generals, turned into a pitched battle on April 15, the confusion has been total for the 45 million Sudanese and the truces announced by the two camps have fizzled.
