Chad - Humanitarian situation in the South, October 2023

Southern Chad remains deeply affected by the impact of the Central African crisis, intra- and intercommunal conflicts and kidnappings for ransom, flooding, food insecurity and health emergencies.

Following intercommunal conflicts from April to June 2023, which caused dozens of deaths, injuries and population displacements, an assessment carried out by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in August 2023 in Logone Oriental province estimated that some 38,700 people were displaced, including 26,000 former IDPs, 9,200 returnees from abroad and 3,400 IDPs. The majority of the displaced, 91%, have already returned to their places of origin. In 73% of the localities assessed, food needs were identified as a priority, followed by the need for basic social services (health, drinking water and education).

Furthermore, according to figures published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Central African Republic (CAR) in September 2023, 31,779 asylum seekers, mainly women and children, and 5,600 Central African refugees moved from southern Chad to the CAR in May 2023 as a result of the armed attacks.

The latest available figures (November 2019) from the population movement monitoring matrix count 77,650 Chadian returnees who have fled the violence in CAR since 2013.
Between July and September 2023, several protection incidents were recorded, including 02 cases of kidnapping for ransom in Mayo-Kebbi West, 02 cases of rape and 13 cases of murder by armed individuals, 05 of which were in Nya Pendé.

Between August and September, several flood alerts were registered in the provinces of Logone Oriental, Mandoul, Tandjilé and Mayo Kebbi Est, which, according to government services (notably SISAAP and ANADER), caused the destruction of 18,130 hectares of crops, the collapse of 2,700 houses, the death of 5 people in Doba rural, Beboni sub-prefecture, and the injury of 110 people as well as the death of 21 small animals.

In August, 2,400 people from the Katawa sub-prefecture of Mayo-Kebbi East crossed the border to seek refuge in Cameroon in Moura, Maga District,
Mayo-Danay, after the Bangor-Gamsai dam burst, flooding their villages and destroying their houses, fields, water points and latrines.

The July 2023 Cadre Harmonisé estimates the number of food insecure people at 1,864,299, including 635,000 in phases 3 to 5 in the four southern provinces. Delays in field work and destruction of fields due to armed conflict and flooding could exacerbate the already worrying food and nutrition situation in the area