N'Djamena/Geneva (ICRC) - In eastern Chad, near the Sudanese border, over 5,000 internally displaced persons have recently arrived in Adé from
Koloy.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has just provided them with tarpaulins, blankets, woven mats, soap and jerrycans.
Last week, the ICRC sent
first-aid material and equipment to the health post in Adé; it also arranged for the evacuation of wounded persons from Adé to the hospital in Goz Beida.
This is the second time
in 12 months that many of these displaced people have had to flee their homes.
Insecurity had already forced them to leave the region of Modoïna, east of Koloy.
The violence
that has affected the Koloy area since the beginning of November has now forced them to find refuge in Adé, north-west of Koloy.
Most of them have brought very little, or nothing, to
Adé.
This is the cold season in Chad; at night the temperature falls sharply.
For these cold nights under an open sky, ground sheets and blankets are essential.
They are the items that are most urgently needed not just to provide some comfort but to prevent people from falling ill.
After fleeing from Modoïna to Koloy, many of these people
managed to grow some crops thanks to the seed and tools that the ICRC distributed before the rains began in July this year.
Now that they have had to abandon those crops, they face the risk
of a serious food shortage.
The aid they are receiving will enable them to stay as close to their crops as possible.
But security needs to improve for them to be able to return,
even temporarily, to Koloy and save their harvest.
The ICRC wishes to stress that civilians have to be protected and their rights respected under all circumstances.
International
humanitarian law prohibits attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as water points, food stocks and crops.
For further information, please contact: Anahita Kar, ICRC N'Djamena, tel: +235 620 10 05 Marco Jiménez Rodríguez, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79
217 3217
