On donkeys, on horseback, on carts or on foot, hundreds or even thousands of Sudanese, the vast majority of whom are women and children, cross the small dry watercourse that marks the border every day to take refuge in Chad.
At the beginning of May, at least 20,000 of them have found refuge in a makeshift camp in the Chadian village of Koufroun, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which manages their care as best they can. with other UN agencies and NGOs.
A few hundred meters to the east is West Darfur, one of the most affected Sudanese provinces - along with the capital Khartoum - by the merciless war waged since April 15 by the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of his ex-number two, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
Most of the refugees fled the small Sudanese town of Tendelti, about twenty kilometers from Koufroun, in the grip of intense fighting.
They often arrive empty-handed, a sign of the haste of their exodus from West Darfur where the UN has counted a hundred people killed over the past week. But where many more have undoubtedly perished, for lack of reliable information.
Others painfully carry some goods, some food, progressing under the crushing heat in this Sahelian zone to find shelter, in particular in the shade of large but rare acacia trees, under which their predecessors and humanitarian workers have erected makeshift shelters, according to AFP journalists on the spot.
Scattered in small groups over an area of two square kilometers, some use women's loincloths and veils to avoid the bites of the sun. "We are using an emergency stock to relieve these refugees who are arriving in large numbers, in one of the most disadvantaged areas in the world in terms of water and health centres".
Mahamat Hassan Hamad has built a makeshift room under a tree with straw walls, a tarpaulin attached to the branches as the only roof. For his wife, his 11 children and him.
The 52-year-old tailor arrived in Koufroun two weeks ago after fleeing Tendelti.
His eyes wet with tears he can barely hold back, he recounts in a quavering voice: "The FSR attacked early in the morning, they burned our houses and destroyed everything in their path, I took my children to cross the border".
"Today, I have nothing left to feed my children, no activity, my sewing machines were taken by the assailants", he laments.
"We have had nothing from the UNHCR, we live thanks to the solidarity of the population", loose Mahamat.
"They attacked our village and when some of us wanted to get out of our house, they killed them, three or four of them," also remembers Bousseyna Mohamed Arabi, 37, another refugee in Koufroun.
According to all the refugees interviewed by AFP, the attacks were carried out by the RSF.
Draped in a black hijab, Hinit Issack Abakar, 17, stares into space.
"I just had time to take my diploma, which allows me to go to university, to flee with my little brother and my little sister", slips the young girl. "I don't know where my mother and father are," she said, crying.
"I was at the market or I was selling coffee when the events broke out," also explains Achaï Idriss, a woman in her thirties. "I just had time to pick up my things and flee to the border like the others," she says.
"Thank God, I have resumed my activities, I prepare coffee to sell it and that allows me to meet my little needs on this site", she explains.
Desperate, the refugees rely on the aid workers, but they also seem overwhelmed, more than 800 kilometers east of N'Djamena.
Unicef distributes emergency kits with kitchen utensils, blankets and mats in particular.
"We are using an emergency stock to relieve these refugees who are coming in massive numbers, in one of the most disadvantaged areas in the world in terms of water and health centers," Donaig Le Du, head of the health centre, told AFP. UNICEF communication in Chad.
The NGO Première urgence internationale has set up a makeshift medical unit in Koufroun. Three health workers work there daily and try to offer consultations, first to all women, children and the elderly.
That is 100 to 200 people a day, estimates Ndoumbaye Thertus, head of the NGO on site. “The main pathologies are respiratory diseases, gastroenteritis and malnutrition,” he explains.
The humanitarian situation could quickly become catastrophic in Koufroun, fear these humanitarians.
"If we don't act now, it will be too late. The rainy season is coming in a few weeks (...), the road will be blocked and all the refugees here will be stuck. We absolutely must provide assistance in terms of water, health and shelter as quickly as possible, as well as food," said Koufroun Brice Degla, UNHCR emergency coordinator in Chad.
"Let's not lose sight of the fact that we already had half a million Sudanese refugees in Chad" before this new conflict, worries Jean Paul Habamungu, head of UNHCR operations in the east of the country.
And thousands of other refugees may still arrive in Koufroun or elsewhere. More than 1,300 kilometers of extremely porous border separate the two countries.
01/05/2023 20:39:47 - Koufroun (Chad) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
