In the Aboutengue refugee camp in Chad, an hour’s drive from the border with Sudan, six women sit in the shade of a sycamore fig tree and tell us about the war. It’s very hot. Most of the people in the camp are women and children. The government and the aid agencies want to move the refugees in Adre, a huge unofficial camps on the Sudanese border, to more organised camps such as this one. This is largely because of the security issues that arise from having so many people on the border. There is a fear that militia groups might cross over.
But the Sudanese are often reluctant to go. While the educational and health facilities are better here than in Adre, the refugees say that there are issues finding work in such a remote place and the food rations aren’t sufficient on their own. There are also issues with water on the day we visit. There are lots of jerry cans over by the water pump waiting for the supply to work.
Robert Bachofer, head of the World Food Programme (WFP) office in Farchana, tells us there is also a psychological consideration: “They very much hope to return [to Sudan] and moving farther inland to Chad is an admission that this might not happen.”
Unlike the homes in Adre, which are constructed from straw, here the houses are made from UNHCR-branded tarpaulin with a corrugated iron roof that gleams in the hot sun. Some have built extra rooms with brick and straw. These women came here in 2023. They are hugely supportive of each other. They are Masalit people who were targeted for rape and murder by the RSF, one side in the Sudanese war. They have set up a “women’s society” and have asked the aid agency Acted to help with psychosocial support.