A senior Red Cross official warned of the dangers posed by the influx of Sudanese refugees into Chad. It is impossible to relocate them all before the rainy season begins in late June.
According to the UN refugee agency, between 60,000 and 90,000 people have fled into neighboring Chad since violence erupted last month. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) stationed Pierre Kremer in the village of Borota, where tens of thousands of people have gathered in a makeshift camp, as of last week.
“We know that we won’t be able to relocate all of them before the rainy season,” Kremer said via video link from Nairobi to a press conference in Geneva. There is a race to relocate as many people as possible. There is the potential for a major humanitarian crisis here.
Large streams, known as wadis, are expected to cut off access to the area once the rainy season begins.
In Darfur, where fighting has erupted between warring factions in the capital in recent weeks, the majority of those arriving are women and children, many of whom have been separated from their parents.
Snakes and scorpions have bitten refugees sleeping outside, according to Kremer.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced plans to relocate refugees near the country’s borders to five already established refugee camps in Chad.
According to UNHCR spokesperson Eujin Byun, who spoke about refugees in Chad, many of them had lost loved ones and had their homes destroyed in fires. She observed that many young mothers were venturing out with their infants on their own.
“I’m overwhelmed to see them,” she said. “There are so many kids, and it’s tragic because they can’t find their parents.”
