More than 400,000 Chadian nationals have returned home from Sudan, three years after the conflict started, according to data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM).
This is after they were caught up in the devastating conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that engulfed areas where many Chadians had settled as refugees from earlier conflicts, others had migrated for trade, others in search of greener pastures for their livestock and others due to cross-border ethnic ties in the Darfur region.
Many of those returning have settled in spontaneous sites or within host communities in Ouaddaï, Wadi Fira, Sila and Sila provinces, often with very limited resources and urgent needs for shelter, water, household items, health care and protection, the UN migration agency said.
According to DTM, 58 per cent of returnees are female, and 69 per cent are children.
The organisation warns that the returnees are among those who have borne the greatest burden of the conflict, and yet, their plight remains the most overlooked despite their vulnerabilities.
“They return to communities they may not have known, without land, documentation, or family networks,” says IOM.
It adds that eastern Chad was already under strain before the Sudan crisis began, thus the scale of new arrivals has intensified pressure on water, shelter, healthcare and other essential services in provinces that were already facing high humanitarian needs.
During her visit to Chad, IOM Deputy Director General for Management and Reform Sungah Lee said she sat with women returnees who walked for weeks, sometimes carrying children who were not their own, orphaned or lost along the way.
“As they return home, we cannot allow them to remain invisible. These figures point to a response that extends beyond providing short-term relief; it must also prioritise protection, health, dignity and longer-term support for women, children and the communities receiving them,” she urged.
Since the outbreak of the crisis, IOM has worked with the Government of Chad, local authorities, communities and partners to support both returnees and the communities hosting them.
The support has included shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, non-food items, multi-purpose cash assistance, protection services, and mental health and psychosocial support.
However, as the crisis enters its fourth year, the organisation said the limits of an emergency-only response are becoming impossible to ignore.
IOM is thus calling for stronger support to the returnee response in eastern Chad, including continued humanitarian assistance alongside investments in livelihoods, community infrastructure and locally led recovery.
“With returnees now accounting for nearly a third of all arrivals from Sudan into Chad, the needs are no longer temporary, and the response cannot remain narrowly framed as emergency relief alone,” IOM said.
Comments
Sign in with Google to comment, reply, and like comments.
Continue with Google