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Number of Refugees Who Fled Sudan for Chad Double in Week
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((PLAYBOOK SLUG: CHAD SUDAN REFUGEES (TV/R)
HEADLINE: Number of Refugees Who Fled Sudan for Chad Double in Week
TEASER: The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, says 60,000 refugees have arrived since Sudan's civil war began
PUBLISHED: 05/17/2023 at 8:30AM
BYLINE: Henry Wilkins
DATELINE: Borota, Chad
VIDEOGRAPHER: Henry Wilkins
VIDEO EDITOR: Henry Wilkins
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Amy R, Mia Bush
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO_X_
TRT: 2:31
VID APPROVED BY: mia
EDITOR NOTES:)) There is a radio piece to accompany this
((INTRO))
[[The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, says that the number of people who fled from Sudan to Chad has doubled to 60,000 in the last week, and many are women and children. Henry Wilkins spoke to Sudanese refugees who just arrived at a newly created camp in Borota, Chad. ]]
((NARRATOR))
Aid groups are struggling to help 30,000 refugees who arrived in Chad from Sudan last week. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, says the recent influx has doubled the number of Sudanese refugees in the country since the Sudan civil war began April 15.
To reach the site of a camp housing the new arrivals, VOA flew from the capital, N’Djamena, and then drove four hours to the remote town of Borota on the Chad-Sudan border. Here, a settlement that didn’t exist a week ago is now the size of a town.
The refugees have come from Western Darfur, which has been ravaged by lawlessness and intercommunal violence mostly consisting of ethnically Arab armed groups terrorizing Black Sudanese. Sudan’s conflict triggered the spate of violence.
Refugee Khadija Arbeb Abdelrahmen told VOA how it is she arrived at Borota.
((Khadija Arbeb Abdelrahmen, Sudanese Refugee (in Arabic, ?? secs)))
"We’re coming from Konga because of the fighting. There are a lot of terrorists there. That's why so many refugees have fled here. This is all I brought with me. We don't have anything else. We're here for food and security."
((NARRATOR))
Meanwhile, Isaac Bakar says he has been living in Borota since last week. He describes seeing a group of armed men raiding his hometown of Konga, before he fled.
((Isaac Bakar, Sudanese Refugee (in Arabic, ?? secs)))
"[They] were just breaking into people’s houses to steal money, and if you didn’t have any money, they forced you out of your home and sent you south or they killed you. … I saw them killing people. If I had owned a phone, I would have recorded it.
((NARRATOR))
The mayor of Borota, Toco Bahat, says he is happy to welcome the refugees as his guests and points out his community has strong ties with those across the border. But resources are strained.
((Toco Bahat, Borota Mayor (in Arabic, ?? secs)))
"People need a lot of help here with food and especially water. Because of no rain, there is a scarcity of water. There are kids who need help and refugees who have no jobs."
((NARRATOR))
UNHCR is putting basic sanitation in place and bringing water but warns there is still much to do.
((Eujin Byun, UNHCR Spokesperson, in English ?? secs)))
"The need is great, and our support is minimized by a funding shortfall. We’re really calling for the international community to support and continue to support to those new arrivals."
((NARRATOR))
Chad’s rainy season starts this month. The deep gullies on the long road to Borota will fill with water, making access for aid groups more and more difficult.
((Henry Wilkins, for VOA News, Borota, Chad))
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