• Sudanese refugees arrive in Acre, Chad, October 6, 2024. (AP/Sam Mednick)

Chad is under growing strain as millions of refugees pour in from Sudan, many malnourished and in urgent need of aid, according to the World Food Program (WFP). The influx is being driven by Sudan’s ongoing civil war, which began in 2023, as fighting continues between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on the case of Nadjala Mourraou, a refugee who fled to Chad with her son.

The mother and child stood at the front of a long line outside of a doctor's tent at the already overcrowded Touloum camp in eastern Chad.

"We're suffering from a lack of food," complained the mother, who fled the fighting in Nyala, in Sudan's South Darfur region. more than a year ago.

As she held her haggard two-year-old son for medics to examine, the painful diagnosis came: little Ahma, like many of his fellow Sudanese refugees, was severely malnourished.

2 years into the #Sudan crisis, nearly 1 million people have sought refuge in #Chad. Since the beginning, #WFP has deployed a massive response to support forcibly displaced families & host communities.
🙏US,@UNCERF,@eu_echo,@GermanyDiplo, @MofaJapan_en,@FCDOGovUK,@KOICA_ICC, i.a. pic.twitter.com/ZGFjhTXcXO

— WFP_Chad (@WFP_Chad) April 15, 2025

Since their arrival, they have only had a bowl of assida, a porridge made from sorghum, to eat each day, Mourraou added.

Over three million refugees have left the country, with 770,000 Sudanese fleeing to Chad since the outbreak of the war two years ago, seeking refuge in camps along the border, according to the UN refugee agency.

Humanitarian response

Touloum camp, made up of makeshift sheet metal and canvas tents, houses 25,000 to 30,000 Sudanese refugees. Recently, many have become malnourished, says Dessamba Adam Ngarhoudal, a nurse with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). 

"Out of 100 to 150 daily consultations, nearly half of them deal with cases of malnutrition," she said.

The worst cases are sent to the Iriba district hospital, 30 minutes away, but it couldn't save the first Sudanese infant who died of malnutrition.

"Since the beginning of the month, we have already exceeded the capacity of the malnutrition ward at the hospital," said MSF nurse Hassan Patayamou recently.

"And we expect admissions to continue to rise as the hot season progresses and temperatures rise above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)."

No end in sight

Over two years after Sudan's civil war began on April 15, 2023, there is no end in sight. Neither army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan nor RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo attended a recent London meeting on resolving the conflict.

As fighting continues, Chad fears the number of Sudanese refugees could soon reach nearly a million. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees warns that impoverished Chad cannot bear this burden alone and has sought $409 million in aid, only 14% of which was received by February’s end.

"The Chadian people have a tradition of welcoming their Sudanese brothers in distress," said Djimbaye Kam-Ndoh, governor of Wadi Fira province where the Touloum camp is located.

"But the population of the province has practically doubled and we're asking for major support."

Humanitarian groups are concerned about the impact of US aid freezes and European donor cuts.

Nearly 25 million people in Sudan face acute food insecurity, says the World Food Programme. With the rainy season approaching, medics fear outbreaks of disease.

"We're preparing for an explosion of cases of malnutrition and malaria," Samuel Sileshi, emergencies services coordinator for MSF in Central Darfur state, told AFP by telephone.

"This year, we are also facing measles epidemics in Darfur," he said. That unhealthy cocktail of diseases, he warned, "could have "devastating consequences", not least for children.