Highlights: The Sudanese conflict has not abated: in five months, more than five million people have been displaced by the fighting. Of these, nearly 420,000 Sudanese have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad. The population of the small town of Adré has increased sevenfold. Prices of staple foods have skyrocketed. Sanitary conditions are precarious, and diseases such as malaria proliferate during this rainy season. 85 per cent of Sudanese exiles registered here in Chad are women and children.

The Sudanese conflict has not abated: in five months, more than five million people have been displaced by the fighting. Among them, nearly 420,000 Sudanese have found refuge in Chad...

War in Sudan: alarming humanitarian situation in the Chadian town of Adré

The Sudanese conflict has not abated: in five months, more than five million people have been displaced by the fighting. Of these, nearly 420,000 Sudanese have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad.

A Sudanese family, who fled conflict in Murnei in Sudan's Darfur region, sit next to their belongings crossing the Sudan-Chad border in Adré, Chad, July 26, 2023. REUTERS - ZOHRA BENSEMRA

By: RFI Follow

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With our special envoy in Adré (Chad), Eliott Brachet

There are still hundreds of refugees crossing the border every day. This is slightly less than in recent months, when there were thousands of them daily following the massacres committed in West Darfur.

Every day dozens of refugees are transported by truck to three permanent camps in the department of Assoungha. Despite these relocations, the huge Adré camp is always full. More than 200,000 people are still piling up in makeshift tents and shelters as far as the eye can see. The population of the small town of Adré has increased sevenfold. Prices of staple foods have skyrocketed. Sanitary conditions are precarious, and diseases such as malaria proliferate during this rainy season.

The ICRC organizes itself

In the spans of the camp, we meet the haggard eyes of some refugees still in shock. Mainly Massalit, they recount the daily abuses suffered in areas controlled by paramilitaries and Arab militias affiliated with them. In most of the families we met, there is a missing brother, a father, a child. Missing or killed a few miles from here in a war that is taking place behind closed doors. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 85 per cent of Sudanese exiles registered here in Chad are women and children.

Faced with this continuous influx, the Chadian authorities deplore an insufficient humanitarian response. So, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced a management strategy to ensure their protection. The organization's president, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, had carried out a three-day mission from 13 to 15 September in the Sudanese refugee camps in Adré and Farchana on the border with Sudan, to host communities. She explains herself at the microphone of Olivier Monodji, our correspondent in N'Djamena.

First, we have strengthened our teams and we can technically help [...] Now we need resources beyond what we are already doing [...] The situation in terms of health and medical assistance has improved so we want to make progress now in different sectors, especially in access to water. We are also working with the Chadian Red Cross to help people find their loved ones and reunite parents and children who have been released or found.

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Mirjana Spoljaric Egger (ICRC)

For his sixth consecutive visit outside Sudan, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane visited Entebbe, Uganda, on Saturday. The head of the regular army is trying to rally international support in the war that has pitted him since April against the paramilitaries of General Hemetti's rapid support forces.

War in Sudan: alarming humanitarian situation in the Chadian town of Adré

War in Sudan: alarming humanitarian situation in the Chadian town of Adré

The ICRC organizes itself

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