Chad: the city of Adré engulfed by the flow of Sudanese refugees

2023-07-18T02:48:36.003Z

Highlights: In Chad, up to 2,000 Sudanese refugees arrive every day in the border town of Adré. Local authorities are sounding the alarm because today the city is engulfed in tents and makeshift shelters. Social services are totally overwhelmed despite the response of humanitarians. "I ran 30 kilometres carrying my son's body to bury him here. We passed vehicles of armed men who were shooting at us as we fled. We could no longer count the dead and wounded," she confesses. With the cutting off of cross-border trade, at the market, prices have tripled.

In Chad, up to 2,000 Sudanese refugees arrive every day in the border town of Adré, in the far east of the country. The local authorities are sounding the alarm because today, the...

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Chad: the city of Adré engulfed by the flow of Sudanese refugees

In Chad, up to 2,000 Sudanese refugees arrive every day in the border town of Adré, in the far east of the country. Local authorities are sounding the alarm because today the city is engulfed in tents and makeshift shelters, and social services are totally overwhelmed despite the response of humanitarians.

At the Sudanese border, refugees storm UNHCR trucks that will transport them to the town of Adré, far from the horrors of war. © Carol Valade/RFI

Text by: RFI Follow

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With our special envoy back from Adré, Carol Valade

We are 300 meters from Sudan. Under the stormy sky, a few detonations are heard, sometimes the whistling of a bullet. And there are these endless columns of refugees. Anane Kamis Ahmat is one of them. "I ran 30 kilometres carrying my son's body to bury him here. We passed vehicles of armed men who were shooting at us as we fled. We could no longer count the dead and wounded," she confesses.

Ali Mahamat Sebey, prefect of Asoungah, said: "As you can see behind me, 1,000 to 1,500 people cross the border every day, fleeing the war atrocities of our neighbours in Sudan. Also, we offered all the school facilities to these refugees so that they stay sheltered from the rain and others.

" READ ALSO At the Chadian border, the chilling testimonies of Sudanese survivors of the massacres in Darfur

In high school, there is no longer a centimeter of free space. We sleep 10 families per classroom and the hygiene conditions are deplorable. A border town of 40,000 inhabitants, Adré has become unrecognizable, engulfed in a flood of more than 120,000 refugees. And with the cutting off of cross-border trade, at the market, prices have tripled.

For Adoum Mahamat Ahmat, departmental coordinator of the National Commission for the Reception and Reintegration of Refugees, the situation is explosive: "Livelihood resources such as health, food, water, shelter for sanitation... All these shelters will not have a capacity to respond to this population that has doubled.

Many arable areas are occupied by refugees. As a result, the government has allocated land for at least three new camps.

Chad: the city of Adré engulfed by the flow of Sudanese refugees

Chad: the city of Adré engulfed by the flow of Sudanese refugees

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