Survivors of Sudan’s Brutal War Have Been Forgotten – NRC

GOOBJOOG NEWS: Survivors of Sudan’s war are facing extreme neglect and a daily struggle for survival, the Norwegian Refugee Council has said.

The humanitarian agency says the war has displaced 9 million people in the country – the largest war-related displacement crisis in the world, surpassing even Ukraine and Syria.

It adds that many people inside Sudan have been forced to flee violence more than once.

“Another 1.7 million people have escaped Sudan to neighbouring countries. In total, 10.7 million people have been forced to flee Sudan’s brutal conflict but almost no one has found safety,” NRC says in a statement.

According to the organization, Chad has received the largest share of people fleeing Sudan, escaping ethnically driven attacks throughout the Western Darfur region.  

The volume of arrivals has placed an unbearable strain on one of the world’s poorest countries.

Refugees in Chad now find themselves lacking even the most basic support necessary for survival. Immediate and increased assistance for Chad and the broader Sudan crisis is required, alongside political courage from the world’s leaders to end this senseless violence.  

“Here in Chad, I have heard horrifying testimonies of deliberate violence and atrocities. Families fleeing neighbouring Darfur have witnessed executions, rape, indiscriminate shelling, burning of camps, and massacres – just because of their ethnicity,” said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, visiting camps and Adré informal settlement in eastern Chad this week.

He adds, “And yet many survivors have been utterly abandoned. They are forced to live in desperate, undignified conditions, under make-shift tents, lacking even basic assistance. How is it that these survivors have been so forgotten?”   

The Organization further notes that ten months into the crisis, the infrastructure in Chad is overwhelmed as a constant stream of refugees continues to enter the country.

New arrivals have no choice but to improvise shelters in informal camps and hope for better housing later while thousands of refugees lack sufficient food and safe drinking water, with people lacking even plastic containers to carry whatever water is available.

Aid agencies are warning that the lack of support is setting the stage for humanitarian catastrophe.