UNHCR / CHAD SUDANESE REFUGEES

Rapidly increasing number of Sudanese refugees crossing into eastern Chad, with more than 18,500 people – mostly exhausted and traumatized women and children – arriving in the past two weeks alone. UNHCR

• Video Length: 00:05:16
• Production Date: 6 May 2025
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGUEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: SUDAN; CHAD
• MAMS Id: 3374212
• Parent Id: 3374212
• Alternate Title: unifeed250506b

Description

STORY: UNHCR / CHAD SUDANESE REFUGEES
TRT: 05:16
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 03 MAY 2025, TINE TRANSIT CAMP / BORDER CROSSING, TINE REGION, CHAD

Shotlist

1. Med shot, refugees run after food deliveries
2. Various shots, refugees wait for food to be distributed
3. Various shots, children waiting for food
4. Wide shot, children walk past with collected food
5. Med shot, makeshift shelters at Tine Transit Camp
6. Various shots, refugees arriving at the Tine Transit Camp
7. Various shots, UNHCR staff load belongings and people onto trucks to go to Iridimi camp. Staff say trucks are over capacity every time, triple what they should be
8. Various shots, woman makes food in makeshift shelter
9. Med shot, makeshift shelters made from clothing and materials
10. Various shots, arrivals on trucks at the border point from Sudan with Chad. Most are fleeing ZamZam
11. Various shots, refugees accessing clean water to wash and drink
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Paul Habamungu, Head of Sub-Office in Chad, UNHCR:
“We are living difficult periods with the influxes. After the bombing of Zamzam IDP camp in Darfur and Al-Fasher. We have thousands, hundreds of thousand people moving who have been living in Zamzam. We didn't expect this big influx of people. It's terrible here at the border, many children – unaccompanied children like the one of 14 years we just met. This boy of 9 years who is crying here looking for their parents. There are many persons with specific needs. The doctor just told me that there are many pregnant women, lactating women who are malnourished. So, we expect more malnourished people coming now, talking about people who are dying on their way from Zamzam to between Tawila and Tiné, dying with hunger on the road.”
13. Med shot, refugees run after food deliveries

Storyline

Rapidly increasing number of Sudanese refugees crossing into eastern Chad, with more than 18,500 people – mostly exhausted and traumatized women and children – arriving in the past two weeks alone.

Many of the newly arrived refugees report experiencing grave violence and human rights violations that forced them to flee. They describe men being killed, women and girls subjected to sexual violence, and homes burned to the ground. The journeys to safety were perilous, often undertaken clandestinely, with refugees facing robbery at checkpoints and repeated threats along the way.

Most arrived in Chad with nothing - no food, money, or identification. Several wounded individuals, including children and elderly women, reportedly fell from vehicles during the chaotic escape. A rapid protection assessment by UNHCR and its partners indicates that 76 per cent of the newly arrived refugees were subjected to serious protection incidents, including extortion, theft, and sexual violence.

Despite extraordinary efforts by local communities and authorities, the capacity to absorb the new arrivals is severely overstretched. Chad is already hosting 1.3 million refugees, including 794,000 new arrivals from Sudan since the conflict started more than two years ago. While the country continues to show remarkable solidarity in hosting refugees, it cannot bear this burden alone.

Humanitarian resources across the country remain extremely limited, while needs continue to grow – water, shelter, health, education, and protection.

Jean Paul Habamungu, UNHCR Head of Sub-Office in Chad said, “We are living difficult periods with the influxes. After the bombing of Zamzam IDP camp in Darfur and Al-Fasher. We have thousands, hundreds of thousand people moving, who have been living in Zamzam. We didn't expect this big influx of people. It's terrible here at the border, many children – unaccompanied children like the one of 14 years we just met. This boy of nine years who is crying here looking for their parents. There are many persons with specific needs. The doctor just told me that there are many pregnant women, lactating women who are malnourished. So, we expect more malnourished people coming now, talking about people who are dying on their way from Zamzam to between Tawila and Tiné, dying with hunger on the road.”