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Backgrounder: Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic

Council on Foreign Relations

Author: Stephanie Hanson, Copy Editor
January 2, 2007

Introduction

The conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region increasingly threatens two neighboring countries—Chad and the Central African Republic. The Sudanese government and rebel groups signed a peace agreement in May, but violence in Darfur has escalated since then. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has barred deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur (authorized by UN Security Council Resolution 1706). Meanwhile, the conflict is in a “free fall,” that includes eastern Chad and northern Central African Republic, UN Humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland recently told the Associated Press. “We have kept people alive, but we haven’t protected them,” he said. With the security situation so unstable in both Darfur and eastern Chad, aid groups are starting to withdraw from the region, leaving humanitarian assistance at its lowest since 2003 and 2004.

What is the state of humanitarian aid in each country?

Sudan. There are 2.5 million displaced people within Darfur (PDF) dependent on the aid provided by humanitarian organizations. Faced with harassment from the Sudanese government, supply warehouse raids, and attacks on refugee camps, many of these organizations have started to evacuate their workers. In November, the Norwegian Refugee Council withdrew its staff, leaving 300,000 people without aid. In December, the United Nations started a mass evacuation, airlifting over one hundred aid workers from its own staff and other agencies from the north Darfur town of El-Fasher. "If the tension subsides we will go back in," said Dawn Blaloc, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "If it gets worse we can pull more people out” (Belfast Telegraph).

Chad. There are some 218,000 refugees from Darfur in twelve camps in eastern Chad.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.