Chad - Today (21/2) thirty Chadian trucks loaded with 1,800 evacuees and their belongings arrived at the Chadian border town of Sido, after a two-day trip from the Central African Republic (CAR) capital Bangui.

The convoy, which like another convoy of over 100 cars earlier this week faced repeated attacks on the road from Bangui, was met by newly reinforced IOM teams deployed to register the new arrivals.

Sido is a small village on Chad’s southern border with the CAR, located a two-hour drive from Sarh, the main city of the region.

Many of the migrants had sought shelter at Bangui’s Military Airport for several days or weeks before being evacuated, after witnessing indescribably violence.

IOM’s registration identified several different groups of migrants. They included Chadians, CAR nationals, CAR nationals who identify themselves as Chadians, and people from other countries caught up in the violence.

The returnees are now being accommodated in an overcrowded, makeshift transit centre with around 200 tents. Over 7,000 people are already living  there in very poor conditions.

According to IOM staff in Sido, there is an extreme lack of water, food and sanitation. Open defecation is apparent in most areas and only fifteen latrines are functional.

Returnees and evacuees are using their last dollar to buy food to survive in extreme squalor.  With more returnees and evacuees expected to arrive, the Sido transit site could become a humanitarian disaster area.

IOM is now beginning to work with humanitarian partners to coordinate assistance in Sido and other transit sites, as well as offering onward transport for people who wish to continue their journey to final destinations in Chad.

To date, over 70,000 returnees have returned to Chad from the CAR, but almost 50,000 of them are still sheltering in unhospitable transit shelters. Over 25% of them are CAR nationals.

For more information please contact

Chris Hoffman
IOM Ndjamena
Email: choffman@iom.int

or

Sarah Lotfi
IOM Ndjamena
Email: slotfi@iom.int