More Than 11,000 Sudanese Refugees Arrive in Chad: UNHCR

Photo: Refugees who fled the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region carry belongings home at dusk at Djabal camp near Gos Beida in eastern Chad

January 28, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Over 11,000 Sudanese have fled West Darfur to neighbouring Chad following the tribal clashes between Arab tribes and Massalit during the last week of December 2019.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 54 people have been killed and 60 people injured as a result of the tribal violence.

“Clashes in El Geneina, in Sudan’s West Darfur State, have forced more than 11,000 people to flee as refugees into neighbouring Chad since last month,” said the UN refugee agency.

The UNHCR added that most of the refugees were already internally displaced people and when attacks happened in West Darfur in late December 2019.

The tribal clashes of West Darfur have displaced some 40,000 people including 32,000 from three IDP camps (Krinding 1, 2, and Al-Sultan camp), and the rest from Kreding, Bab Al Jenan, Dar Al-Salam, and Dar Alnaiem.

During the first years of the conflict in Darfur, hundreds of thousands of people from West Darfur fled to Chad. El-Geneina is located at 20 km from the border.

The UNHCR says that the number of Sudanese refugees could reach 30,000 people saying that the rate of refugee arrivals risks outpacing the capacity of aid groups.

“UNHCR teams on the ground are hearing accounts of people fleeing after their villages, houses and properties were attacked, many burnt to the ground,” said the refugee agency.

The new refugees in Chad, are currently living in several villages around the town of Adré of Ouaddaï region which already hosts 128,000 Sudanese refugees.

(ST)