Officials in Chad say urgent international help is needed to save the lives of more than 2 million of the most vulnerable people caught in a severe humanitarian crisis caused by conflict and climate shocks. The Sahel country is one of the poorest nations in the world, and food is particularly scarce now as hunger peaks in the June-August lean season between harvests.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) estimates that 2 to 2.5 million people will need food assistance during the lean season. From June to August 2024, an estimated 3.4 million people in Chad will be acutely food insecure (crisis level or worse).
Abdelmadjid Abderahim, Chad's Minister of Public Health, said Monday he is pleading with all international partners to help Chad during a severe humanitarian crisis affecting more than 2 million civilians in the country of about 18 million people. The minister said flooding, an influx of refugees, a growing number of displaced persons, and intercommunal armed conflict are inflicting suffering on civilians that the Chadian government cannot handle alone.
Abderahim, speaking Monday on Chadian state television, described the food insecurity and humanitarian crisis as unprecedented. He said the crises are being exacerbated by inadequate agricultural production due to climate change, drought and an influx of destructive migratory birds and crickets.
According to the latest food security analysis by the Cadre Harmonisé, Chad is experiencing its fifth consecutive year of severe food insecurity, with 3.4 million people expected to be unable to meet their basic food and nutritional needs during the lean season, when food stocks are typically depleted and hunger peaks before the next harvest.
Malnutrition has also reached alarming levels, with some 1.4 million cases of acute malnutrition among children under five reported in the country.
The continued influx of Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees into the eastern provinces is likely to increase the population in need of assistance, although hosting communities will have access to food from their own production from the September harvest.
Chad hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees and returnees from conflict-ridden Sudan, and their numbers and humanitarian needs are growing. 89 percent of those registered are women and children. The Chadian government estimates that the number of refugees and returnees in Chad could reach more than 900,000 by the end of 2024.
Since the beginning of the war in Sudan on April 15, 2023, more than 620,000 people displaced have arrived in Chad, mainly in the provinces of Ouaddai, Sila, Wadi-Fira and Ennedi Est in eastern Chad. The total number of refugees in Chad now exceeds one million, making the country home to one of the largest and fastest growing refugee populations on the entire African continent.
From the onset of the influx, humanitarian agencies have been supporting the Chadian government and local authorities to provide life-saving assistance and a range of protection services in spontaneous sites, in the expansion of old settlements and in newly established settlements.
As of July 10, 45 percent of refugees have been relocated from spontaneous sites to both extended and newly established settlements, where refugees and host communities are benefiting from the services provided by humanitarian agencies.
The steady influx of refugees and returnees puts pressure on livelihoods and creates competition for scarce economic opportunities. Both groups have limited access to food and income sources due to their low purchasing power and dependence on food aid.
Chad is also home to tens of thousands of civilians fleeing violence between rebels and government forces in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Security has deteriorated in parts of the Lake Chad Basin - an area that includes parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria - as organized armed groups continue to attack civilians, particularly in Cameroon's Far North region and northeastern Nigeria.
The ongoing conflict in the Lake Chad Basin further exacerbates the humanitarian crisis in Chad. The regional crisis is the result of a multi-faceted combination of factors, including conflict with non-state armed groups, extreme poverty, underdevelopment and a changing climate.
Attacks on civilians and infrastructure, as well as conflict between the state and non-state armed groups, have led to massive population displacement throughout the region.
As of June 2024, the four bordering countries host more than 6 million of the most affected people, consisting of internally displaced persons (IDPs), former IDPs, returnees from abroad, and refugees. Some 300,000 of those people live in Chad and are also in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
In addition, millions of people have been affected by floods and drought in Chad over the past year.
Last week, the Chadian government launched its national emergency response plan to meet the immediate food and nutritional needs of one million of the most vulnerable people in eight provinces during the lean season.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the World Bank, the European Commission (EC), Japan and the United States have all pledged to help Chad by distributing food, seeds and cash transfers to families most at risk of hunger.
The program will target the most affected provinces, including Ennedi East, Wadi Fira, Ouaddai, Sila, Logone Oriental, Lac, Kanem and Bahr El Ghazal on the border with Sudan. Foreign donors have not said how much they will give to help Chad with the emergency plan.
The plan also includes the provision of nutritional supplements for children under the age of 2, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Rasit Pertev, representative of the World Bank in Chad, said the World Bank is contributing US$60 million to help the Chadian government cope and will mobilize an additional US$100 million to support a government response plan.
The World Food Programme said that to reduce increasingly severe and recurrent crises, substantial investments in agriculture and support to mitigate climate shocks should be intensified. Strengthening the purchasing power of the most vulnerable populations is also key to improving livelihoods, WFP added.
The World Bank reports that poverty and vulnerability are widespread in Chad, with more than 42 percent of the population living below the national poverty line. The country ranks near the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI). Over 6 million women, men and children in Chad are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024.
The Sahel country has made it onto the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Emergency Watchlist 2024. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has identified the situation in Chad as one of the most neglected displacement crises in the world. According to CARE International, the situation in Chad is also one of the world's forgotten crises that received the least media attention last year.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.