On the back of donkeys, on horseback, on carts or on foot, hundreds or even thousands of Sudanese, the vast majority of whom are women and children, cross the small dry watercourse that marks the border every day to take refuge in the Chad. At the beginning of May, at least 20,000 of them have found refuge in a makeshift camp in the village of Koufroun, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which manages their care as best they can. with other UN agencies and NGOs.
A few hundred meters to the east is West Darfur, one of the most affected Sudanese provinces – along with the capital, Khartoum – by the merciless war waged since April 15 by the army of the General Abdel Fattah Al-Bourhane and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), of General Mohammed Hamdane Daglo, known as “Hemetti”.
Most of the refugees fled the small Sudanese town of Tendelti, about 20 kilometers away, in the grip of intense fighting. They often arrive empty-handed, a sign of the haste of their exodus from West Darfur where the UN has recorded a hundred people killed in the past week – but where many more have undoubtedly perished, for lack of reliable information. Others painfully carry some goods, some food, progressing under the crushing heat to find shelter, in particular in the shade of large but rare acacias under which their predecessors and the humanitarian workers have erected makeshift shelters. Scattered in small groups over an area of ??2 km2, some use women’s loincloths and veils to avoid the bites of the sun.
Attacks attributed to the FSRs
Mahamat Hassan Hamad has built a makeshift room under a tree with straw walls, a tarpaulin attached to the branches for the only roof. For his wife, his eleven children and himself. The 52-year-old tailor arrived in Koufroun two weeks ago after fleeing Tendelti. Eyes wet with tears he can hardly hold back, he recounts in a quavering voice: “The RSF attacked early in the morning, they burned our houses and destroyed everything in their path, I took my children for cross the border. Today, I have nothing left to feed my children, no activity, my sewing machines were taken by the attackers. We have had nothing from the UNHCR, we live thanks to the solidarity of the population. »
“They attacked our village and when some of us wanted to come out of our house, they killed them,” recalled another refugee, Bousseyna Mohamed Arabi, 37. According to all the refugees interviewed by AFP, the attacks were carried out by the RSF. Draped in a black hijab, Hinit Issack Abakar, 17, stares into space: “I just had time to take my diploma, which allows me to go to university, to flee with my little brother and my little sister. I don’t know where my mother and father are. »
“I was at the market, where I was selling coffee, when the events broke out,” explains Achaï Idriss, a woman in her thirties. I just had time to pick up my things and flee to the border, like the others. Thank God, I resumed my activities, I prepare coffee to sell it and that allows me to meet my little needs on this site. »
Desperate, the refugees rely on the humanitarians, but they also seem overwhelmed, more than 800 km east of N’Djamena. Unicef ??distributes emergency kits with kitchen utensils, blankets and mats in particular. “We are using an emergency stock to relieve these refugees who are flocking massively to one of the most disadvantaged areas in the world in terms of water and health centers”, explains to AFP Donaig Le Du, head of the communication from Unicef ??in Chad.
An extremely porous border
The NGO Première urgence internationale has set up a makeshift medical center in Koufroun. Three health workers work there daily and try to offer consultations, first to all women, children and the elderly. That is between 100 and 200 people a day, estimates Ndoumbaye Thertus, head of the NGO on site. “The main pathologies are respiratory diseases, gastroenteritis and malnutrition,” he explains.
The humanitarian situation could quickly become catastrophic in Koufroun. “If we don’t act now, it will be too late. The rainy season is coming in a few weeks, the road will be blocked and all the refugees will be stuck here. We absolutely must provide aid in terms of water, health and shelter as quickly as possible, as well as food,” said Brice Degla, UNHCR emergency coordinator in Chad.
“Let’s not forget that we already had half a million Sudanese refugees in Chad” before this new conflict, worries Jean Paul Habamungu, head of UNHCR operations in the east of the country. And thousands of other refugees may still arrive in Koufroun or elsewhere. More than 1,300 km of extremely porous border separate the two countries.
