The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday it is concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in eastern Chad amid a massive influx of refugees and returnees from neighboring Sudan. More than 55,000 Sudanese refugees and 39,000 Chadian returnees have been registered in Chad's Ennedi-Est and Wadi Fira provinces since violence escalated in Sudan's North Darfur state in April.
OCHA warned that the latest arrivals come on top of nearly one million people who have sought refuge in Chad's eastern provinces since the Sudan crisis erupted in April 2023, and that the current capacity of reception sites is far from sufficient to meet the scale of the needs. Most of the new arrivals are traumatized women and children.
While the Tine border crossing remains open, conflict, criminal activity and physical barriers along the escape route in Sudan's Darfur region continue to pose serious risks to civilians fleeing violence in Sudan and attempting to reach safety in Chad. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), many newly arrived refugees have reportedly faced extortion and violence along the route.
The transit site at the Tine crossing from Chad into Sudan, which can accommodate 500 people, is now hosting nearly 20,000 people - scattered around the site, sleeping in the open as they await relocation away from the border area.
Since mid-April, agencies have provided emergency relief, including the construction of hundreds of family shelters, the distribution of food to more than 6,000 people, and the provision of medicines to meet the needs of 20,000 people.
OCHA warned that people urgently need food, shelter, access to water, sanitation and hygiene services, health care and protection services for survivors of violence. Malnourished children also need adequate treatment.
Chad already hosts more than 1.4 million refugees, including more than 832,000 who have arrived from Sudan since the war began more than two years ago. Hundreds of thousands of others, including many returnees, have also entered Chad since the war began in April 2023.
Escalating violence in North Darfur, particularly in and around the town of El Fasher, has led to mass displacement in recent weeks. In early April, large-scale atrocities involving hundreds of civilian deaths and the displacement of more than 400,000 people were reported from the Zamzam displacement camp.
Zamzam was Sudan's largest camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), hosting more than 500,000 women, children and men before the recent attacks, and was one of three displacement sites in the El Fasher region where famine conditions have been identified.
While many thousands of people who have fled Zamzam are seeking safety and protection in the Sudanese towns of El Fasher, Tawila and Dar As Salam, tens of thousands of others have arrived in neighboring Chad, with more arrivals expected as violence and insecurity continue.
Protracted and fast-onset multidimensional crises, exacerbated by climate change, have created a grim humanitarian situation for the people of Chad, with nearly 40 percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. At the beginning of the year, some 7 million women, men and children required humanitarian assistance.
One of the most recent crises in Chad has been the large influx of Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees since April 2023.
At the same time, Chadians are struggling to meet their basic food and nutritional needs. While 2.4 million people in Chad are acutely food insecure (crisis level or worse), an estimated 3.7 million people in Chad will face acute hunger from June to August 2025 - the lean season.
Southern Chad is also affected by armed violence from intercommunal conflicts and the security situation in neighboring Central African Republic. In the Lake Chad region, non-state armed groups (NSAGs) such as Boko Haram continue to launch attacks and cause displacement.
In addition, the country is heavily affected by natural hazards related to climate change, with floods and droughts increasing hunger and nutrition insecurity.
Last year, more than 1.9 million people were impacted by extreme flooding, half of whom lost their homes. The floods caused hundreds of deaths and extensive damage. Health facilities, schools and livelihoods were severely affected, and an estimated 432,200 hectares of fields and crops were destroyed.
To date, the US$1.4 billion Humanitarian Response Plan for Chad is only 7 percent funded, with $99 million received.