Besides the 600,000 refugees from Sudan, Niger, Cameroon and Central African Republic who are being hosted by Chad, an additional 300,000 people comprising of internally displaced Chadians are in dire need of aid
After fleeing conflict and violence, refugees, internally displaced people and their host communities face growing food insecurity and malnutrition, high food prices and the destructive effects of climate change. In the second half of 2022, the country saw the most devastating floods in 30 years.
To avoid food assistance coming to a complete halt and to 'put food on the table of all crisis-affected populations' in Chad, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) urgently needs additional funding of US$142.7mn for the coming six months. WFP projects that nearly 1.9 million people will be in severe food insecurity from June to August 2023, while more than 1.3 million children will suffer from acute malnutrition. According to the UN agency, other disastrous impacts of the crisis could include a rise in child labour, under-aged marriage and recruitment into armed groups.
Echoing the call for urgent action, Matthew Saltmarsh from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, also appealed to the international community to help tackle the crisis. “For our part of the appeal, we are looking to raise US$172.5mn to provide protection and relief assistance to the one million forcibly displaced people and their hosts,” he said.
Speaking about longer-term solutions to the crisis, including development interventions, Pierre Honnorat, director of WFP in Chad, highlighted a new project which WFP was running together with UNHCR and the Chadian agriculture ministry to promote empowerment and self-reliance among the displaced by enabling them to become farmers and live off the land. “We have just rehabilitated 1,600 hectares of land, which have already produced 2,900 tonnes of food,” he said, stressing that the return on investment of the operation is fantastic and that most importantly, 16 villages now no longer require assistance.
