Chad’s government has launched an urgent evacuation of refugees from Sudan as military forces prepare for deployment along the volatile border region, according to a refugee agency official who spoke Monday.
The emergency relocation follows President Mahamat Idriss Deby’s directive last week for armed forces to ready themselves for potential retaliatory strikes after a drone attack from Sudan claimed 17 lives in Chad, including individuals attending a funeral ceremony.
Government officials announced separately that Chad has bolstered security measures at the border and may conduct military operations inside Sudanese territory.
Approximately 2,300 refugees will be moved in the first phase of relocations, with women and children comprising more than half of those affected, according to Saleh Tebir Souleymane, who represents Chad’s National Commission for the Reception and Reintegration of Refugees and Returnees in the border community of Tine.
The evacuation process started Saturday in the Ennedi Est province, moving people deeper into Chad’s interior away from the frontier zone. Officials planned to extend the operation Monday to encompass all border communities serving as temporary refugee sites, Souleymane explained.
“We have received instructions from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to act quickly because the border will be secured in the coming days by the army, which is already deploying there,” Souleymane stated.
Chad shut down its eastern border with Sudan last month following violence connected to the ongoing war that resulted in five Chadian military deaths.
However, refugees are still crossing into Chad “due to the intense fighting on the Sudanese side,” according to Souleymane.
The internal conflict between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which erupted in April 2023, has repeatedly extended beyond Sudan’s borders into Chad, resulting in deaths and property destruction.
