UNHCR urges global community to support Sudanese refugees in Chad

The UN’s refugee agency has issued an urgent call for greater international assistance as thousands of people, bearing accounts of renewed trauma and violence, continue to stream out of Sudan’s Darfur region into an overstretched Chad.

UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements made the appeal on Thursday after meeting with refugees in Farchana, Chad, who had escaped the city of el-Fasher.

She described hearing harrowing stories that have "resurrected a trauma" for families. "It's a city that had been under siege for 500 days.

These are people in desperate need," Clements stated, noting the new arrivals "need everything from a safe place to be, to shelter, to clean water, to an ability to be able to restart their lives."

Chad's hospitality stretched thin

Clements praised Chad for keeping its borders open and serving as a hospitable host for refugees for decades.

However, she emphasized that the country and aid agencies cannot manage the crisis alone. "They need help," she said in a direct message to the international community.

"This is where we need the international community's continued and even increased support to be able to do much more here in Chad, but also to try to reach those communities in need inside Darfur."

A deepening crisis with no end in sight

The influx into Chad is a direct result of the deadly rampage in el-Fasher following its capture by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The event marks a brutal new chapter in the war that began in April 2023 between the RSF and the Sudanese military.

According to U.N. statistics, over 40,000 people have lost their lives so far, though aid groups warn the true death toll is likely far higher, while more than eleven million have been displaced, giving rise to the worst displacement and most severe humanitarian disasters.