Chad

11 July 2007

Internally displaced in Chad: Trapped between civil conflict and Sudan’s Darfur crisis

Women waiting for the distribution
of government provisions in Gassiré
IDP site (Foaleng/IDMC, 2007)

Over the last two years, an estimated 172,600 people have been internally displaced in the south-eastern regions of Chad bordering Sudan’s Darfur, including more than 120,000 within the last seven months. They have been displaced by a combination of armed conflict between the government and rebel groups, cross-border raids by militias from neighbouring Sudan, and increasing inter-communal violence. The internal displacement crisis worsened from mid 2006 as, in response to increasing attacks from Chadian rebel movements, the government withdrew the Armée Nationale du Tchad (Chadian National Army, ANT) from south-eastern areas to other more strategic points. This led to a security vacuum along the border with Darfur in which (mainly non-Arab) civilians and villages have been subjected to continuous cross-border attacks attributed to armed militia groups known as Janjaweed. These factors have combined to encourage and trigger inter-ethnic violence and banditry that has forced people to flee, including Arab Chadians who started to be subject to attacks. The increasing militarisation of communities and the ongoing military recruitment (including of children) in IDP sites adds to the overall deterioration in the security situation.