The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning of a looming halt to its food and nutrition assistance to 1.4 million crisis-affected populations in Chad – including newly arrived Sudanese refugees - due to funding constraints. Today's warning comes as aid agencies scramble to respond to a fresh wave of Sudanese refugees fleeing the unimaginable humanitarian crisis unfolding in neighboring Darfur amid reports of mass killings, rapes, and widespread destruction.
In just the last six months of conflict in Sudan, as many refugees have fled into Chad as had crossed the border in the preceding 20 years, starting from the outbreak of the Darfur crisis in 2003. The influx brings the total number of refugees in Chad to over a million, making the country host to one of the largest and fastest-growing refugee populations in the whole African continent.
“This forgotten crisis has metastasized as the world’s eyes are on other emergencies. It is staggering, but more Darfuris have fled to Chad in the last six months than in the preceding 20 years. We cannot let the world stand by and allow our life-saving operations to grind to a halt in Chad,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s Country Director in Chad.
There are deeply alarming reports of continued sexual violence, torture, arbitrary killings, extortion of civilians and targeting of specific ethnic groups in Sudan’s Darfur region. In early November, more than 800 people were reportedly killed by armed groups in West Darfur. During the first three days of November, over 5,000 people have crossed the border into Chad. Most of them were women and children.
“You can see the fear and despair in people’s eyes as they cross the border with nothing but harrowing tales of violence. Collectively we must find a way to support the women, children and men who are bearing the full brunt of this crisis,” Honnorat said.
“Cutting our assistance is simply not an option because it will have untold consequences for millions of people, jeopardizing years of investment in fighting hunger and malnutrition in Chad,” he warned.
Dwindling funding and soaring immense humanitarian needs, is forcing WFP into making brutal choices. In December, WFP will be forced to suspend assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees from Nigeria, Central African Republic, and Cameroon due to insufficient funds. From January this suspension will be extended to 1.4 million people across Chad – including new arrivals from Sudan who will not receive food as they flee across the border.
Millions in Chad already face acute food insecurity and malnutrition – particularly children - due to a confluence of calamities including the impact of the climate crisis, global economic headwinds that drive up food and fuel prices, declining agricultural production, and intercommunal tensions.
The unfolding refugee crisis piles further pressure on food insecure communities that already struggle to get by. In August this year, WFP was only able to assist 1 million of the 2.3 million it had targeted, leaving 1.3 million without assistance at the peak of the lean season when hunger bites the hardest.
Malnutrition is also a major concern, with 1.36 million - or 8.6 percent of children under five suffering from malnutrition. The situation among refugee communities is even more concerning, with 90 percent of new arrivals, 77 percent of pre-existing refugees, and 67 percent of local communities reporting poor or borderline food consumption according to the latest Emergency Food Security Assessment conducted in Eastern Chad.
A recent WFP food security assessment revealed that 40 percent of IDPs have poor food consumption – a major decline from 14 percent in 2022. Many of them are resorting to desperate measures such as selling their belongings or begging, WFP said.
“Cutting assistance paves the way for crises of nutrition, crises of instability, and crisis of displacement,” Honnorat warned.
To ensure continued support to crisis-affected populations in Chad over the next six months, the World Food Programme urgently requires US$185 million.
The revised 2023 UN Humanitarian Response Plan for Chad targets 5.2 million people out of 7.6 million in need. Among those in need are some 3 million children. As of November 21, Chad has received 30 percent ($276.3 million) out of the required funding of a total $920.6 million.
The conflict in Sudan is having a strong impact on neighboring Chad, with nearly 450,000 Sudanese refugees – mostly women and children – and some 80,000 Chadian returnees having crossed the border into the eastern part of the Sahel country to seek safety since the conflict in Sudan started in April. In total, there are currently more than one million refugees living in Chad, including some 880,000 Sudanese refugees.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) projects more than 600,000 Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees will arrive in eastern Chad before the end of the year.
Since the conflict in Sudan started more than seven months ago, some 6.4 million people have become displaced. More than 5.2 million people – Sudanese and refugees already residing in the country - have been displaced inside Sudan, while 1.2 million women, men, and children have fled to neighboring countries, including Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic.
Nearly 90 percent of people who have fled the violence are women and children. Most people that crossed borders into neighboring countries have sought refuge in Chad.
The civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is being waged with a new level of violence and brutality against civilians, especially in the states of Darfur. Ethnically targeted attacks on villages and refugee camps are widespread, forcing more and more people to flee the violence.
"Sudan – and Darfur in particular - has become a living hell for millions of children, with thousands being ethnically targeted, killed, injured, abused, and exploited. This must end," said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, Monday in a statement.
The scale of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented. The UN says the country is experiencing a “humanitarian crisis of epic proportions”. Millions of people – especially in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – lack access to food, water, shelter, electricity, education, and health care.
The number of people in need of humanitarian aid stands now at 24.7 million people – more than half of Sudan’s population. Among them are more than 13 million children in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian support.
The revised 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Sudan calls for US$2.6 billion to provide lifesaving assistance to an estimated 18.1 million people inside the country by the end of this year. As of November 21, the HRP is only 35 percent funded.
Further information
Full text: WFP operations risk grinding to a halt in Chad as refugees flee Darfur killings, WFP, press release, published November 21, 2023
https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-operations-risk-grinding-halt-chad-refugees-flee-darfur-killings