February 21, 2008 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Charities are racing to help people affected by violence that broke out in Chad this month after rebels attempted to overthrow the government.
At least 100 people were killed in the capital, Ndjamena, and approximately 30,000 people were forced to flee their homes for other parts of the country or neighboring Cameroon.
The fighting also temporarily disrupted aid to refugee camps along Chad’s eastern border with Sudan, home to 240,000 victims of the years-long conflict in Darfur.
Many charities were forced to pull their staff members out of Chad because of the violence. Some have gone back to work, but they have returned to find their offices in the capital ransacked, basic infrastructure devastated, and thousands of people in need of medical care.
“The situation in Chad is still critical,” said Christophe Droeven, Catholic Relief Services’ country representative in Chad. “Our office has been totally destroyed, and it’s still hard to know if the water system can be fixed and how quickly.”
Many humanitarian workers were also forced to evacuate camps in eastern Chad and Sudan’s Darfur region. Programs deemed nonessential, such as HIV/AIDS services, schooling, and peace and reconciliation workshops, were temporarily suspended.
Some charity employees are worried that the situation in Ndjamena might temporarily overshadow the plight of people living in camps.
“It’s going to divert some attention and funding from the needs of the refugees and the internally displaced in the south,” said Ben Hemingway, International Medical Corps’s regional coordinator for north-central Africa.
Border Concerns
Political tensions with neighboring Sudan are also complicating the humanitarian situation. Chad blames the Sudanese government for fomenting instability and backing the rebels, a claim that Sudan denies.
Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, last week said he would expel any additional Sudanese refugees arriving in his country and called on foreign governments to relocate them.
“I’m certainly concerned about the new refugees who have nowhere to go,” said Jonathan Hodgdon, emergency response manager at AmeriCares, which has provided help to people in eastern Chad and in Darfur. “Humanitarian agencies will have to scramble to find some solution.”
Meanwhile, aid groups are rushing relief supplies to some 30,000 people who have taken refuge in Cameroon, across Chad’s southwest border. The refugees are scattered in schools and churches, making it difficult to get aid to them.
Some of those who fled have been injured in the fighting. Many have been unable to get access to HIV/AIDS drugs and other medications. They also need food and water.
While the U.N. World Food Program, UNICEF, and the Cameroon Red Cross are operating in the region, more help will likely be needed, aid officials said.
“The number of aid agencies on the ground is probably inadequate for this many refugees,” said Mr. Hodgdon, whose group is conducting an assessment of the situation.
Despite the needs in Chad, most aid groups are not raising money specifically for the crisis. Instead, they are relying on existing support or on governments and the United Nations. The fluidity of the situation has also made it difficult for groups to raise money.
“Most of our donors are trying to figure out how long the situation will last,” said Mr. Hemingway, of International Medical Corps.
Kenya’s Crisis
The humanitarian situation in Kenya also remains fragile following December’s contested presidential election.
The political crisis seems to be nearing resolution and most schools have reopened. But more than 300,000 people are still homeless and occasional violence continues to flare.
Meanwhile, fund raising remains slow. CARE, for example, has yet to raise any money from American donors, while Lutheran World Relief has raised just $2,705, compared with $2,000 two weeks ago. Save the Children has brought in $130,000, compared with $100,000 two weeks ago.
Uncertainty about the future has also prevented charities from determining what kind of support to provide.
The Peter C. Alderman Foundation, which provides mental-health care to victims of violence, has been aiding Kenyans who have fled to Uganda.
But the organization is debating whether to continue providing mental-health care suitable for short-term emergencies, or to begin offering more substantive counseling, which requires a sustained relationship with patients.
“You can’t start an intervention and then just walk away,” says Stephen Alderman, one of the charity’s founders. “We’re in a quandary.”
