MSF-USA: The Forgotten People of Eastern Chad

December 18, 2006
The Forgotten People of Eastern Chad

Some 15,000 displaced persons have settled in Thur, next to Dogdoré. The pumping and treatment water station set up by MSF produces 180,000 liters each day for the displaced and resident population. Photo © MSF

The UN and main international aid organizations have drastically reduced their programs in eastern Chad. It is the Sudanese refugees from Darfur who will suffer from this decision, as well as the internally displaced Chadians who have fled the violence of various armed groups. Despite difficult security conditions, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is maintaining its assistance programs.

On Goz Beida's dirt-track airstrip, which stretches out in the middle of nowhere, humanitarian workers struggle to get a place on the small plane that goes to Abeche, the largest town in the region. The regular flight service is not enough to evacuate the employees of the main aid organizations. Invoking the security situation, the World Food Program, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and many other private organizations have drastically reduced their intervention capacities in Dar Sila, as well as in all eastern Chad. This region, which borders Sudan, had seen the arrival of Sudanese refugees fleeing Darfur in 2003, but today it is above all the scene of violence against Chadian civilians. Several tens of thousands of civilians have fled their villages to escape organized attacks, pillaging, and murders committed by different armed groups since the end of 2005.

MSF Activities

In Dogdore, where 15,000 IDPs have gathered in a town of originally 3,000 inhabitants, MSF's program consists of a health center, a mobile clinic for remote areas, and a hospitalization unit to treat serious medical cases and the wounded. Every day 180,000 liters of water are distributed from a pumping and water treatment station to the IDPs and residents.

Medical consultations are also carried out several times a week in Ade. Emergency non-food items have been distributed to more than 1,000 families. Another mobile team holds medical consultations in Kerfi, Tcharo, and Habile, further to the west where populations from several villages have gathered after their villages were raided at the beginning of November.

"Until recently, the United Nations was focused on the Sudanese refugees in Chad and had shown little interest in the internally displaced persons (IDPs)," says Filipe Ribeiro, MSF head of mission in Chad. "Today, despite the fact that the violence is increasing and that more assistance is needed, their decision seems to me to be disproportionate. Of course the security conditions are difficult, but for the moment we feel it is still possible to work here," he adds. The retreat of part of the assistance organizations only increases the feeling among IDPs that they are being abandoned. The Chadian administration staff and army have also largely evacuated the zones nearest the trouble spots, delegating the protection of civilians to self-defense militias.

MSF decided to open a program near Ade and Koloye, and then in Dogdoré in the extreme east of Dar Sila (a few dozen kilometers from Sudan), after a series of particularly violent raids forced the inhabitants of several villages to flee. While activities are constantly adapted to the changing security situation, MSF tries to respond to the needs of the different displaced populations. At the end of October, MSF's program in Koloye was evacuated because of the security situation (the village was subsequently attacked on November 11 and the MSF base was pillaged). The IDPs from Koloye and its surrounding areas fled to Ade, a one-day walk north; others—in disarray—fled all the way to Darfur, "For some people it is their third or fourth displacement," says Filipe. "That it why it is so difficult to try to meet the essential needs of a very mobile population while providing quality medical care."

On the sites where they have settled, the IPDs are totally destitute, having lost all their possessions to their aggressors and deprived of their usual resources from livestock and agriculture. Although the millet, peanuts, and sesame seeds are ripe for harvest, they do not dare go back to their fields. The families' survival depends on their meager reserves and a few hundred francs earned through selling wood and straw collected in the bush at the market.

"For some people it is their third or fourth displacement. That it why it is so difficult to try to meet the essential needs of a very mobile population while providing quality medical care."

– Filipe Ribeiro, MSF head of mission in Chad

Although the MSF medical teams have not yet noticed an increase in malnutrition in their consultations, the main concern is the food and water situation for the IDPs. "The World Food Program has announced that the food distribution planned for 56,000 people will not take place," says Filipe. "I'm also very worried about the water situation. Before the arrival of the IDPs, water was already scarce is these semi-arid regions. Today, the population in certain villages has quadrupled and with the dry season water is going to become more and more scarce."

Thur, a site next to Dogdoré, is now home to 15,000 displaced persons. Photo © MSF

In Dogdore, where 15,000 IDPs have gathered in a town of originally 3,000 inhabitants, the pumping and water treatment station installed by MSF provides 180,000 liters of water a day. However, many other IDP sites do not have this type of equipment and the water consumed is often of poor quality. In Ade, where the water tower is barely functioning since the army left and where the inhabitants have to pay 250 CFA francs (50 cents) for 20 litres of water, diarrhea is one of the main pathologies among children. Two seriously dehydrated children were recently treated by MSF medical teams. "All the factors are present for the situation to deteriorate," warns Filipe. "The violence continues, the population continues to move and the vital needs are increasing. Protection and assistance are already virtually non-existent; there is a risk that it may well disappear altogether."