External Briefing Paper:

Chad's Invisible Refugee Crisis

Over the past months, refugees have been fleeing western Sudan into Chad. Reliable figures are not yet available, but it is clear that they number in the tens of thousands. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, did an assessment of the situation at the end of August 2003. In reaction to this assessment Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) launched an emergency intervention in two small border towns, Tine-Chad and Birak, which have received large numbers of Sudanese refugees. These refugees continue to live in close proximity to warfare, under extreme conditions. Many are acutely distressed by disturbing memories. This briefing paper is only a short introduction. For more comprehensive information, please contact Medecins Sans Frontieres directly on +32 2 4747487 or +32 2 4747486.

The Sudanese refugees who have fled to Chad in the past months now find themselves living in extremely harsh, drought-stricken conditions. As the majority of the refugees are of the same ethnicity as the local population, they could initially count on help from local communities upon arrival in Chad. However, the region has limited and already over-stretched resources, which are insufficient even for the local population. Local communities therefore cannot provide sustained assistance to a significant refugee population. In Tine-Chad, the refugees are partly regrouped into makeshift camps; whereas in Birak they are dispersed over a large territory.

The weather conditions are extreme, with temperatures reaching above 40 degrees celsius during the daytime and dropping to less than 15 degrees at night. There are barely any trees and therefore shade from the intense sun is hard to find. Shelter consists of whatever people are able to find: old torn rags, bits of plastic sheeting and short wooden sticks. These constructions provide very little protection from the sun, rain, sand storms and wind, nor from the extreme temperatures.

There is no clean drinking water. Refugees must dig in sandy and empty riverbeds with their bare hands, or with a small cup, in search of some water. Their reward is a dirty brown liquid.

Food is scarce. The majority of the refugees were not able to take any food reserves with them when they fled and only a lucky few managed to bring some cattle. To date, no distribution of food or non-food items (blankets, jerry-cans, cooking pots, hygiene kits, etc.) has taken place. MSF staff working in the health centres see increasing malnutrition; in only the first three days of consultations they received over twenty severely malnourished children under the age of five. An ongoing nutritional assessment is currently being carried out by MSF.

Without exception, the refugees are traumatised by the violence they have been subjected to. Many no longer have the emotional strength to do anything except lie in the sand day and night, letting events unfold around them.

Forced to flee

Refugees recount terrible stories of their flight from their home towns and villages. They sketch a grim picture of extreme violence in Darfur province, western Sudan.

Refugees in Tine-Chad told of continuous bombardments.

"In Tine there were many planes with bombs. One day they came in the morning and in the evening, another day they came at midday. The plane made me very scared because it came all the time. Children were also very afraid of the planes. I have those planes all the time in my head during the day and during night time."

There are also many stories about humiliation by soldiers.

"I saw soldiers cutting the hair of a woman. They told her that she was the wife of the enemy. The soldiers broke glass to cut the hair of the woman in order for her to look like a man."

Though often described in disguised terms, it is clear that many women and girls are victims of rape.

"Many girls are being taken by the Arab tribes and by soldiers. The soldiers hit the girls and make bad habits to them. They can take the girls and say that they are their wives."

Harassment has become a daily routine.

"Armed soldiers can stop you at any moment, they can take your lorry and then they go away. They take people's money or they take the women."

Some talk of people being tortured.

"Many people in Tine-Sudan were arrested and being accused of being rebels. They were tortured and their eyes were put out. They used electric sticks.",

Villages are attacked systematically. Houses and fields are burned.

"Arabs came and took everything and burnt our village. They came early in the morning; they came on horses and killed all the men."

Many stories describe how people are murdered on a large scale.

"Even the women were killed and even small boys they kill. My husband was killed as well."

Background: The conflict in western Sudan

In mid-February 2003, Darfur tribes of African origin set up a rebellion movement, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), and created a new armed group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). This rebellion took up arms against the policies of Sudan's central government. The SLM feels that policies from Khartoum continuously exploit Darfur's local resources, discriminate against its African population and support Arab tribes against other populations in the region. As a consequence, the people of Western Sudan feel marginalized, resulting in armed confrontation with central authorities. This conflict resulted in the SLA taking control of large parts of west Darfur earlier this year.

Since the signing of the Machakos Protocol on the 20th of July 2002, a peace process has been on-going in Sudan. Unfortunately this peace process, under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority of Development , is a two-party framework, which does not take into account other conflicts in Sudan like the one in Darfur. It is a process which only concerns the Government of the Republic of Sudan (the Khartoum government) and an alliance of rebel movements from Southern Sudan, lead by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) / Sudan's People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

The first offensives of the SLA in Darfur, on Al Fasher, Kutum and Melit, were met with a military response by the government that escalated during the summer of 2003. This military response, mainly air bombardments, is being backed up by systematic attacks by Arab militias who seek to crush the rebellion and terrorise the villagers. Khartoum and the SLA agreed upon a 45 day ceasefire on 6th September 2003. However, despite this, the bombing and burning of villages has continued.

It is these confrontations that have been responsible for the killing and displacement of thousands of civilians and that have forced people to seek security in neighbouring Chad. Sudanese refugees have been arriving in Eastern Chad since Spring 2003 and more steadily during the summer. They are scattered over a 600km stretch of the Chadian-Sudanese border.

Currently, the refugees - most of whom are women and children - receive only little assistance. They remain close to the border, on the other side of which warfare continues. They are in dire need of assistance and protection against violence.

MSF's intervention

On the 6th of September MSF launched its intervention with an assessment in the Biltine region of northern Chad. This was soon followed by operations in the desert towns of Tine and Birak, where MSF sent a team of 12 people with 40 tonnes of assistance material on the 17th September. MSF opened a health centre in Tine-Chad on the 25th September and a Therapeutic Feeding Centre for malnourished children on the 29th September. Apart from malnutrition, the most frequent health problems currently seen in Tine-Chad are diarrhoea and respiratory infections.

In Birak, where malaria is currently the most pressing health problem, MSF opened a health centre on the 29th September.

MSF is extremely concerned about the lack of assistance and protection for Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad. For more information, please contact Medecins Sans Frontieres directly on +32 2 4747487 or +32 2 4747486