Sudanese farmer gunned-down in eastern Chad

A Sudanese refugee of the Gaga refugee camp in eastern Chad, was shot dead on Tuesday. Elsewhere in eastern Chad on the same day, Sudanese refugees in the Irdimi camp staged a protest to demand access to vital resources.

According to a stringer for Radio Dabanga, assailants attacked Sudanese refugee Sherif Abdallah (40), also known as ‘Grokouma’, while he was working on his rented farm northwest of the camp. Reports state he was then “mercilessly shot three times, in the abdomen, legs, and head, killing him instantly”.

The attackers also assaulted Abdallah’s wife and child using sticks. His family were admitted to the camp’s health centre for their injuries. “Sherif Abdallah was laid to rest in the camp’s gravesite, and a formal report of the incident was lodged with the local authorities”, the stringer added.

Attacks against refugees in Gaga camp are becoming more frequent. “They usually occur as refugees venture outside the camp for farming and other essential purposes”, the stringer explained.

Irdimi protest

Sudanese refugees residing in Irdimi camp in eastern Chad staged a protest on Tuesday, demanding access to vital resources such as water, food, and essential supplies.

One Sudanese refugee in Irdimi camp, speaking to Radio Dabanga, lamented that humanitarian organisations only provided aid once since their arrival at the camp 45 days ago. “Our food stocks are depleted, and the little money we had is now exhausted”, she expressed.

The protest’s primary objective is to secure water access within the camp. The Irdimi camp resident explained that the water truck’s sporadic weekly visits were “insufficient to meet the needs of over 4,000 Sudanese refugees, not to mention the hundreds of displaced people from Chad who also reside in the camp”.

She also drew special attention to women in the camp who urgently need food to provide for their infants. “Milk for growing children in the camp is scarce, further deteriorating health conditions in the camp”. At the end of July, the Chadian office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that 65 children died in camps for displaced Sudanese in Chad due to malnourishment.

On August 4, Radio Dabanga covered a joint Chadian-UNHCR initiative to transport the more than 5,000 Darfuri refugees who were living rough in a makeshift camp near the border to the Irdimi camp in eastern Chad.

Radio Dabanga previously reported that hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees from West Darfur fled into neighbouring Chad to escape violence in El Geneina and several towns across West Darfur.