Thousands of Sudanese refugees at Adre camp in neighbouring Chad are facing harsh living conditions in the camp as conflict continues in the country.
At least 1 million people have fled Sudan after the conflict broke out between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces in April this year. At least 400,000 of them have ended up in Chad – with many of them located in the town of Adre.
Yusuf Mohammed Juma, Program Director of the Darfur Youth Network for Good Governance and Peace, told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that there is a large number of refugees arriving at Adre camp from Nyala, Zalingei, Morni and Kerenik localities of the Sudan’s western region of Darfur.
“Some of the refugees were transferred from Adre camp to Maji camp, located near the Tarbiba area, 4 km from the Sudanese border,” he explained.
Ibrahim Musa Shamo, a political activist, said that the humanitarian situation in all camps is “bad due to the slow intervention of organizations, agencies and others in delivering food supplies.
“The refugees are eating tree leaves to stay alive,” he said.
Musa said the Chadian law prohibits the random cutting of trees, which led to friction between the host community and the refugees, but the Chadian forces intervened to resolve it.
The activist described the health situation as “catastrophic” because of the lack of latrines. “Those wounded during the incident of El Geneina have not been treated up to this moment,” Musa explained.
He also said that the health situation of girls and women is deteriorating due to the lack of sanitary necessities, such as pads and other things, in addition to the rising cases of deaths among children and the elderly due to malnutrition and malaria.
Ibrahim called on aid agencies to intervene and offer protection to the refugees. “They need to intervene urgently to provide support to the refugees before the situation deteriorates further.”
Musa said about 1,400 people, mostly males, are reported missing on their way from El-Gineina town to Adre camp. He called on the Red Cross to follow up on the matter.