WFP needs US$162.4 million to support Chad in urgent need of food assistance

 The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) urgently requires US$162.4 million to support the Government of Chad in assisting 2.3 million people in urgent need of food assistance, including newly arrived refugees from Sudan as well as the 600,000 refugees already in Chad, communities hosting displaced people, internally displaced people, and severely food insecure people in Chad during the June-August lean season.

 

WFP has been responding to growing food needs in Chad, but funding shortfalls mean that food assistance for refugees and internally displaced people will come to a complete halt this month if no additional funds are received. The already precarious food and nutrition security of nearly a million people will immediately deteriorate.

“We need urgent funding to provide rapid food assistance to all vulnerable people in the country. We are prepositioning food to respond to the Sudan refugee crisis, but it is a race against time as the rainy season hits in June and access to many areas in Chad will get cut off,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP Representative and Country Director in Chad.

“Rapid support from the international community is essential if we are to continue supporting the Chadian Government in providing a coordinated, effective, and life-saving response,” Honnorat added.

Since hostilities erupted in Sudan three weeks ago, over 30,000 people have crossed the border into Chad to escape violence, and thousands more may arrive in the coming weeks - according to the government and UNHCR. These new arrivals add to the massive number of refugees already sheltering in Chad after fleeing from previous conflicts – totalling more than half a million people. Most new arrivals are women and young children under five who arrive with nothing, are scared and hungry - many of them taking refuge in the shade of trees.

The humanitarian situation in Chad is dire, as the country is experiencing a fourth consecutive year of acute food and nutrition insecurity, with nearly 1.9 million people needing food assistance during the June-August lean season when families’ food reserves dwindle. Chad already hosts over 600,000 refugees, mainly from Sudan and 240,000 internally displaced people.