Aid to Sudanese refugees endangered by rainy season | Abroad

Since the outbreak of violence in Sudan in mid-April, many have fled to neighboring Chad. According to UN refugee agency UNHCR, at least 115,000 refugees have sought refuge in the neighboring country, mainly women and children. This is expected to increase further to 200,000 in the coming months.

Tens of thousands of refugees are staying in the Sila region, which borders southwestern Sudan. “Thousands of people stay there spread over the fields, mostly under trees. There is almost no shelter and no clean water,” Audrey van der Schoot, who works for MSF in the region, told the Dutch news agency ANP. They are also largely cut off from communication with the outside world.

“The rainy season has started earlier than expected” according to Van der Schoot. According to the aid organization, this could lead to complete isolation of refugees. The area becomes inaccessible when dry riverbeds and roads in Sila fill with water and flood.

“We try to ease the suffering with medical material and medicines. But people are already running out of food.” Van der Schoot therefore sees an increase in malnutrition. Due to a lack of clean drinking water and the poor conditions, there is also an increase in diseases such as diarrhea and malaria. “Humanitarian aid must be scaled up, and that should have happened earlier,” says Van der Schoot.

Since mid-April, a bloody conflict has been raging in Sudan between the RSF paramilitary group and the country’s regular army. More than 220,000 people have fled Sudan because of the current violence, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. 800,000 people are displaced within Sudan.