Refugee crisis in Chad

(Where is most of the fighting going on in Chad?) The fighting is around the capitol N’Djamena, in the southwest of Chad. And now there may be a confrontation going on around a city 350 kilometers east of the capitol. (Where are the refugees?) Some are along the border with Sudan, 240,000 Sudanese refugees, in the east of Chad. The same in the east of Chad we have 180,000 internally displaced Chadians, and then refugees in the southwest of Chad where we have Central African refugees, about 48,000 of them. Now we have a new crisis on the other side of the border with Cameroon where some 30,000 Chadians from the capitol have gone and have now settled in a small town where we are providing assistance. (So these refugees fled as a result of the most recent siege that the government forces are fighting against). Today I went to N’Djamena from Cameroon and I saw people returning to Cameroon from N’Djamena. (The 200,000 refugees in the east are from a different conflict?) Yes, those are Sudanese refugees who have been there since 2004. the internally displaced Chadians are there from beginning of 2006. in eastern Chad the situation is very unstable. There is a lot of banditry and a lot of people heavily armed and threatening the security. (What is it like to work in Chad?) it’s one of the most challenging places you can find. Chad is a land locked country so all support is a nightmare. The security situation since 2006 has never been stable enough for humanitarians to perform normally. This is why we’ve advocated for a long time for a deployment of European forces and the Chadian government to provide the security needed for the refugees. The deployment has not taken yet. This deployment is essential and should be done ASAP.