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U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 2001 - Chad

Chad hosted about 20,000 refugees from Sudan at the end of 2000.

Approximately 50,000 Chadians were refugees at year's end: more than 40,000 in Cameroon, nearly 5,000 in Sudan, about 3,000 in Central African Republic, and some 3,000 in Nigeria.

About 2,500 Chadian refugees repatriated during 2000.

Refugees from Sudan

More than 20,000 Sudanese refugees fled to Chad in the late 1990s because of violence in western Sudan. The refugees have settled at about 30 sites in remote eastern Chad.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continued to provide limited assistance to the refugee population, including five months of food aid. UNHCR's efforts to encourage food self-sufficiency among the refugees failed during 2000 because of poor crop harvests caused by poor land and insect infestations. UNHCR provided agricultural tools, seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, primarily to women refugees who did most farming chores. UNHCR also funded health care, micro-economic projects, and drilling of water wells. Refugee children attended 13 primary schools.

About 200 Sudanese refugees in the capital, N'djamena, reported that local police harassed them and viewed refugees with suspicion.

Politics and Violence

A series of armed insurrections has afflicted Chad during the past 30 years. Ethnic divisions, religious differences, and regional tensions between the country's northern and southern populations have fueled continual rounds of violence.

Although much of Chad experienced peace during 2000, an armed insurgency continued in northern Chad. Thirteen armed political movements formed an alliance against the government in late 1999. Three rebel groups formed another armed alliance in February 2000.

The rebel groups escalated violence in the northern regions of Chad during the year. Large-scale clashes between the government military and rebels in February and July reportedly left hundreds of government soldiers and rebels dead. Government troops claimed to have killed 120 rebels in northern Chad in December. A coalition of Chadian human rights groups called for peace between the government and rebel factions to mark Chad's 40-year anniversary of independence.

The year ended without a truce. However, southern regions of Chad were sufficiently stable for Chadian refugees in neighboring countries to begin returning home.

Repatriation to Chad

Chad's halting steps toward peace encouraged 10,000 to 13,000 Chadian refugees to repatriate during the mid-1990s.

Eruptions of new violence caused several thousand Chadians to flee the country during 1997-98, but a peace accord in mid-1998 ended most violence in the south and created conditions for refugees' potential repatriation.

In May 2000, UNHCR began a long-delayed organized repatriation program for Chadian refugees living in Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Many of the refugees had lived in their asylum countries for more than 15 years. Registration for the repatriation was difficult because most Chadian refugees were scattered and well integrated into host communities in Cameroon and Central African Republic.

About 2,500 refugees returned home to Chad during 2000 – far fewer than UNHCR originally expected. Assistance included five months of food aid and reintegration projects. UNHCR established a field office in the returnee zone to facilitate the returnees' integration.