Sudanese refugees from Darfur. UNHCR trucks deliver WFP food to a center in Djabal camp which hosts 14,000 refugees from Darfur [Photo: UNHCR/Caux]

An estimated 245,000 Sudanese refugees had been living in eastern Chad since the Darfur crisis erupted in 2003 and were receiving assistance and protection in twelve camps.  The humanitarian situation in Chad became increasingly complex because of the rapidly deteriorating security situation along the border areas of both eastern and southern Chad.  This situation forced an estimated 140,000 Chadians to flee their homes, and some refugee camps became exposed to rebel forces from Sudan.  In the south, many new arrivals of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) were recorded, bringing the total number of refugees in this area to more than 48,000.

Because of the increasing violence in both the Central African Republic and Darfur, it was unlikely that refugees in eastern and southern Chad could return home. 

Moreover, new waves of displacement in both areas further complicated the situation.  Faced with the prospect of new influxes, the humanitarian community needed to provide timely life-saving assistance to the population in need, namely refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and host communities.  It needed also to respond to growing concerns regarding the safety of humanitarian workers.

Koloma, one of the sites for displaced people near Goz Beida [Photo: IRIN/Hecht]

The launch of the upgraded Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) presented a window of opportunity to the humanitarian community in Chad, whose life-saving activities were suffering from chronic underfunding - many completely unfunded.

Click here to download the full 2006 CERF report for Chad.

Life-saving activities were given priority for the CERF funding and the following activities were identified in southern Chad:

• Logistics capacity to adequately support the operation, including the capacity of humanitarian workers to respond to the protection and assistance needs of refugees,
• On-going monitoring of border areas between CAR and Chad, and the transfer of new refugee arrivals to safety, away from the border to refugee sites,

A young Sudanese refugee girl waits for food distribution for her family in Gaga refugee camp. Humanitarian workers are preparing a bag of items she is entitled to get after presenting her UNHCR refugee card. The package includes oil, CBS (Corn Blended Soya), sorgho, etc. [Photo: UNHCR/Caux]

• Timely delivery of essential non-food items,
• Replacement of old and dysfunctional generators in favor of water pumps to increase the quantity of water supplied to refugees to acceptable standards (i.e.15 liters per person per day),
• Security provided to female refugees during the collection of firewood in order to prevent Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) incidents, and
• That the appropriate number of “gendarmes” was deployed in each refugee camp, and that they had the basic means to operate.

In eastern Chad:

• Procurement and transportation of non-food items and shelter material (soap, blankets, tents), 
• Procurement of diesel fuel for vehicles and equipment already operational under the project to ensure adequate mobility of humanitarian staff and goods.
  
  

  [Last Update: 10 September 2007]

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Click here for CERF in Chad 2007

Click here to download the 2006 CERF report for Chad