In Eastern Chad, the thorny question of refugee management

Since April 15, 2023, the conflict in Sudan has escalated, triggering a massive displacement of people. As fighting between Sudanese military factions intensifies, over 600,000 refugees have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad. The influx has overwhelmed the eastern region of Chad, particularly in areas like the city of Adré. Many refugees are arriving with little more than the clothes on their backs, fleeing violence, hunger, and destruction.

The situation has put a tremendous strain on Chad’s resources, as local communities and humanitarian organisations scramble to provide food, shelter, and medical care. While Chad has a long history of hosting refugees from Sudan, the scale of this crisis is unprecedented, and the country’s already fragile infrastructure is struggling to cope.

Recently, some new refugee camps have opened deeper inside Chad, to reduce the pressure on the border town of Adre, where its temporary refugee camp hosts 230,000 people. For Sudanese, it’s impossible to imagine a future in this No Man’s Land, knowing that they might stay for decades, like the refugees who came in 2003, and who finally settled for a long time in their temporary refugee camps.

Since April 15 2003, hundreds of thousands of refugees have crossed the border fleeing the Sudanese conflict. They have to walk under the unfinished bridge to enter Chad where NGOs will orientate them to the transit camp.

At Adre’s border, many small traders are transferring food items to Western Sudan from the Chadian side, as trucks are not allowed to go through. Chad is one of the rare doors to access the Darfour, Western Sudan, currently controlled by the Rapid Support Forces.

Adre’s transit camp is situated a few kilometres from the border, in a town which was mainly known for being on the trading route between Sudan and Chad. The population was around 40,000 before the refugee crisis. The camp hosts around 228,000 refugees. To decrease the pressure on this camp, some satellite camps have been built deeper inside Chad lands, to accommodate the growing number of refugees, whereas the Sudanese crisis does not seem to slow down.

In the Ouadai region, the camps of Arkoum, Farchana and Dougi have been built recently by HCR and other implementing partners. These camps are situated at dozens of kilometres of the border, in some areas where; before hosting dozens of thousands of refugees, a few dozens of people were cultivating.

The Farchana camp was one of the first camps to open, slightly after the crisis started in April 2023. It’s an extension of the old Farchana camp, a camp which was created during the 2003 Darfour cris. The extension aims at hosting 18,000 refugees.

Every day, Aisha Rezigal is giving English lessons in the Farchana camp, under a tree. She arrived in May 2024. She preferred staying at Adre transit camp. There, there were more activities and better conditions. Her husband is still in Sudan, and two of her eldest children stayed in Adre, where they have more job opportunities. To force her and her family to move to Farchana, the World Food Programme threatened to cut her food rations. Like many refugees, she has the feeling that this temporary stay will end up being long term “If the situation gets calmer, then in 20 years, I will come back to Sudan (laugh)”.

A young refugee woman is going to the neighbouring field to cultivate, whereas another one is bringing some wood, she will use to cook. One of the main issues that refugees face is the lack of employment opportunities, as most of them left Sudan without anything, and can not start any business activity. Their access to the local labour market is also restricted. One of the rare opportunities is to cultivate some lands, which belong to locals.

Iman Abdallah Gamar (16 years old) and Saladin Abdallah (13 years old) are killing the time smoking a cigarette on a hill which overlooks the camp. They are cousins and moved first to the transit site in Adre in April 2023. Here in Farchana, they are missing food assistance, as well as activities. They want to become teachers and start French lessons at the camp, to better integrate in Chad, knowing they might be here for a long time. If it gets calmer, they will go back to Sudan, but they know they will have to stay a bit. Their family left all their belongings there: their trucks and cars, and cultivable land. It took them 6 days of walking to reach Chad. They were walking during the night, and they were hiding during the day. Iman likes - to drink strong coffee and smoke cigarettes, as it removes his constant headache.

Suad Omar, left with her 4 children and arrived in Farchana camp in May 2023. Here, her life is complicated, whereas before, in Njenina, in Sudan, she used to work for a local NGO and some assets, including a car and three rickshaws, she was renting out.

Ashta Anour Ibrahim is 25 years old and move to Arkoum with her husband and their 4 children. She was running small businesses with her husband. At the beginning of the war, à part of the family was killed, and they had to run away. The HCR relocated them here. No choice but to be here. Every two months, WFP give them two Kori’s (5kgs) for the entire family, which is limited. Hygiene is another big issue as there are only 50 latrines in the entire camp for 14,000 people (one for 280 people). She gave birth to her last baby when the camp was not already set up. It is always painful to think about giving birth. Also, sanitary pads are missing in the camp, and women are using tee-shirts as sanitary pads.

At the end of the day, one of the streets of Breidjing Camp is getting busy. This camp, which was created in 2004, following the Darfour crisis, still hosts a population of 46,000 refugees, who finally settled here.

On Tuesday morning, a local trader is coming to Dougui refugee camp, the latest constructed camp, to attend the weekly market. Thousands of refugees newly arrived, carrying nothing with them.

Tuesday morning at Dougui’s market. Dougui site is the latest new refugee site (approximately 110 kilometres from Adré) to relocate part of the 150,000 refugees remaining at the border in Adré refugee spontaneous site. Already 5,000 refugees arrived, and the camp aims at hosting 50,000.

Adam Hassan Baki Omar is 50 years old. He has three wives and ten kids. He fled Sudan with one wife and two kids, as he could not afford to bring the entire family. Here, he hopes to find money to bring them all. He arrived in Dougui 13 days ago, where he can eventually rest. He was shot during the last Ramadan. He has some scars from the shooting. He was holding a small shop, and Janjawid looted it, and shot him in the arm and the back. Therefore, he lost all his belongings. The WFP give them food, but her, they don’t have other activities which can generate income. If things get calmer in Sudan, they will go back. Here, the water is good, and the latrines are fine, but they need some non-food items to start an activity.

Awa Adam Abaka - 35 years old, She is here with her three children. During the war, her husband run away, but she does not know where he is. She was working as a daily worker, she is coming from Nyala. She left Sudan because she was left alone in the crisis. It took her three days by bus to arrive to Chad. She spent one day in the transition camp and she was sent to Dougui, as the WFP would not give her food assistance if she stayed in Adre. She came with an HCR truck. It’s her ninth day here and she feels good. She is left with nothing. Everything she has is here. She would like to find a job/activity, like holding a small shop.

Ahmed moved alone to Chad, and lives alone in a shelter, He arrived 13 days ago, after he spent one and half months in Adre. In August 2023, he got shot in the leg in Sudan a year ago, when Janjawid looted the market where he worked in Nyala. At that moment, he was also studying, and learning English and Arabic. After one year, he could not have access to good medical service so he decided to go to Chad, where he spent two months at the Abeche hospital, the biggest town in the region. He left his parents, and brothers and sisters there. He is waiting to heal completely before thinking about his future. He hopes he can get access to land where he can cultivate his field next rainy season. He arrived 13 days ago, and he hopes his mother will bring the rest of his family to camp, He still has hope and believes he will not return back.