Chad has declared a
“state of food and nutritional emergency”
throughout its territory, according to a decree made public on Friday in one of the poorest countries in the world, where more than half a million refugees have flocked in ten months fleeing the war in Sudan.
The decree of the transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, signed on Thursday, details neither the actions implemented nor the number of people concerned, but the UN World Food Program (WFP) warned last November of a
" imminent cessation”
of its aid in the face of the influx of Sudanese refugees if it fails to raise the necessary international funds.
The WFP then provided
“food and nutritional assistance to 1.4 million people”
in Chad, the number of internally displaced people and refugees in this semi-desert country in Central Africa, due to ongoing conflicts on its territory. and its neighbors, Sudan, Central African Republic, Niger, Nigeria, Libya and Cameroon.
But since the start, on April 15, 2023, of the war in Sudan between the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitaries led by his rival, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, some 546,770 new refugees have arrived in Chad, according to the latest figures at the beginning of February from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
PAM assistance suspended from December
Chad, which hosts by far the largest number of Sudanese refugees, mainly from Darfur fleeing the civil war started in 2003 in this region of eastern Sudan, already sheltered more than 400,000 before the new conflict.
In total, this country, classified by the UN as the second least developed in the world, must manage more than 1,570,000
“people in forced displacement”
, including more than 1.1 million refugees.
The others are internally displaced, due to the rebellion of various armed groups against the military junta of General Déby.
“In December, the WFP will be forced to suspend its assistance to displaced people and refugees from Nigeria, the Central African Republic and Cameroon, due to insufficient funds. From January 2024, this suspension will be extended (...) in particular to new refugees from Sudan, who will not receive food
,” the UN agency specified on November 21.
“To ensure continued support for populations affected by the crisis in Chad over the next six months
,” she highlighted an
“emergency need of $185 million
. ”