November 28, Nairobi — Sudanese refugees fleeing from El Fasher to eastern Chad are experiencing increasingly deteriorating conditions. Fatima Mohammed Ishaq, a refugee at the Iridimi camp, told Darfur24 that families are struggling to feed themselves.
A leader in Touloum refugee camp, also located on the Sudanese-Chad border, said that new refugees are struggling to obtain assistance cards and are in dire need of healthcare, food and shelter.
“Some families gather to share one meal a day,” said leader Hussein Mahmoud. “Some die in silence.”
Mahmoud said that the refugees held protests in the last few months to demand increased aid and support but “nothing has been achieved from it yet.”
It is estimated that nearly 700,000 Sudanese have fled into eastern Chad since the war began in April 2023. On Thursday, the United Nations said that 25,000 people arrived in eastern Chad in the first week of October alone. The more recent arrivals, the UN said, appear more visibly in need. The situation is exacerbated by outbreaks of measles, chickenpox, hepatitis E, and yellow fever.
In the camps in Chad, access to essential health services is disrupted due to difficult physical access and limited human and material resources. Reports have said that only 35% of the humanitarian response in Chad is funded.
In eastern Chad, multiple Sudanese refugees told Darfur24 that as the humanitarian situation deteriorates, and they receive little aid, they hope to return to Sudan.