In Chad, in the Sudanese refugee camps

After decades of civil war punctuated by brief periods of respite, Sudan has been torn apart since April 2023 by a new internal struggle, this time between the Sudanese Armed Forces (FAS), in power in Khartoum, and the Rapid Support Forces ( FSR), a paramilitary group accused of war crimes, particularly in the Darfur area, in the east of the country. Fleeing the violence of the fighting, the burning of villages and sexual abuses, nearly 550,000 Sudanese came to take refuge on the other side of the border with Chad, around the town of Adré.

A year after the start of the fighting, the influx continues but health conditions are deteriorating. Despite the care of refugees by the UN and NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF), donations and humanitarian aid remain largely insufficient to meet the needs. Malnutrition is progressing with severe cases among children. Hepatitis E, a highly contagious viral infection, has spread throughout the various refugee camps, made worse by the shortage of drinking water and poor hygiene. Not to mention the heat, which deteriorates survival conditions. In the Ambelia camp, the population complains of the lack of humanitarian aid which is not enough to feed the population. And the resurgence of fighting in Sudan raises fears of the arrival of new displaced people. Far from the strategic issues being played out in the Middle East or in Ukraine, Sudanese refugees are the forgotten ones of geopolitics.