There is currently a precarious standby in Chad and its capital N'Djamena after several days of fighting between the government forces and the rebel groups coming from the east of the country. The population is staying behind closed doors and thousand of civilians are fleeing from the violence, crossing the border of Cameroon. The combats have already led to the death and injury of hundreds of civilians.

The deterioration of the security situation in Chad has led ACTED to slow down part of its activities, notably those taking place in the combat zones. Part of our team will remain on the field to monitor our essential operations (food distribution and nutrition) for the refugees in the camp of Oure Cassoni (Bahaï).

ACTED is active in eastern Chad where it provides help to the 280,000 Sudanese refugees coming from neighbouring Darfur. Since arriving in the country in 2004, ACTED has supported both displaced populations as well as local Chadian people, who are already vulnerable due to the difficult economical, social and political context. ACTED intervenes by implementing activities such as distributions of food and Non Food Items, access to water, support to health structures, support to the livelihoods of refugees and mitigation of tensions between local populations and refugees.

Should the violence continue, ACTED is concerned about a new flux of population fleeing the combat zones. In case the situation worsens and the number of displaced persons increases, our teams are ready to provide emergency help to the populations in need. With this in mind, ACTED remains on site to monitor the situation and to assess the needs for the population affected by the fighting.

Part of our teams evacuated to Yaoundé (Cameroon) went to Kousseri, on the border with Chad, to assess the situation and the needs of the refugees pouring from Chad and notably from the capital N'Djamena. Thousands of civilians are populating the small town after having fled the fighting, abandoning their homes and possessions in their haste. In order to prevent a humanitarian crisis, ACTED is setting up an emergency intervention to provide some relief to the basic needs of the refugees in the upcoming days: food, water, shelter, and other elementary non food items.

Contact: Adrien Tomarchio (HQ Press Officer) / Email : press@acted.org / Tel : 00 33 (0)1 42 65 33 33 Benoît Piot (Chad Country Director Tchad) / Email : benoit.piot@acted.org