UN High Commissioner: Grandi calls for help for Sudan refugees

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After conflict erupted in neighboring Sudan, so many people fled to Chad that one in 17 of the country’s residents is now a refugee, the United Nations refugee agency said Monday. Grandi last week visited Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, as well as the east of the extremely poor country of about 18 million people in the Sahel zone in Central Africa.

“The solidarity of the Chadian people with the refugees is extraordinary, and the authorities – both in N’Djamena and in the eastern provinces where the influx has taken place – have spared no effort to accommodate the refugees, although resources are very limited his and Chad faces many more challenges,” Grandi said, according to the statement. “The international community, including development actors, must redouble its efforts to help them.”

Hundreds of thousands of people had already sought protection in Chad before this year. Since the outbreak of fighting in Sudan in April, more than 400,000 additional refugees have arrived in early September, according to the UNHCR, of which 86 percent are women and children. Most come from the neighboring Darfur region, where brutal ethnic violence has broken out and civilians are being killed or raped.

According to UN figures, a total of 5.2 million people in Sudan have been displaced by the conflict; most of them are still on the run in the country. The total need for regional refugee assistance is one billion dollars. However, so far only approximately $207.3 million (approximately €193 million) has been received. The World Bank announced a new $340 million financing package for Chad during Grandi’s visit to help address the many shocks facing the country.

(SDA)

Source: Blick