At a transit camp on the Chad–Sudan border, Najwa Issa Adam (32) distributes plates of pasta and meat to Sudanese orphaned children who fled from the city of El Fasher, which was recently seized violently by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after a brutal campaign.
Najwa herself is a refugee from the city. She arrived last October and says that during her escape she was held at gunpoint by four RSF fighters who repeatedly raped her until someone heard her screaming and helped her escape.
The Border Town of Tina
She now buys and prepares food for newly arrived refugee families using money donated by other refugees living in the border town of Tina. “People here have no food at all. The only support we receive comes from the residents of Tina,” she says. Newly arrived families at this border town receive very little international humanitarian assistance. For many, the only source of food comes from donations made by fellow refugees—some of whom arrived recently, while others have lived there for years after fleeing previous conflicts in Sudan.
A few NGOs operate in the town, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which runs a mobile clinic at the border and a small outpatient unit that opens three days a week inside the camp. Josh Sim, an MSF emergency nurse, said that nearly one in every four children examined at the camp suffers from malnutrition—a situation worsening as more families flee from El Fasher.
The World Food Programme (WFP) resumed limited food distribution on Saturday, targeting pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under two to prevent malnutrition. According to a WFP spokesperson, the agency has diverted most of its resources to other camps deeper inside Chad in an effort to encourage refugees to relocate to safer areas.
Nawal Abu Bakr Abdelwahab (49), a former teacher from El Fasher who fled last month during the attack, said: “There is no treatment, no medicine. We left our homes with only the clothes we were wearing. We have nothing.”
Cuts in Aid Funding
A spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the agency has only 38 percent of the US$246 million it estimates is needed to address the Sudanese refugee crisis in Chad.
He explained that U.S. cuts to foreign aid are the main reason behind the funding gap. U.S. contributions totaled US$68.4 million in 2024—equivalent to 32 percent of UNHCR’s budget. This year, U.S. contributions dropped to US$35.6 million—only 10 percent of total funding—while overall needs increased due to rising humanitarian pressures. The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Mission to the UN did not respond to requests for comment.
Transit camps like the one in Tina are normally intended to host refugees only briefly before they are transferred to more secure camps further inland. But limited funding for water, sanitation, and shelter in the inland camps has slowed relocation efforts, according to a UNHCR spokesperson.
Aid organizations are unable to provide permanent shelters—or even tents—for new arrivals. Instead, staff distribute plastic mats, which UNHCR’s representative in Chad, Magatte Guisse, described as “just something to block the sun and offer minimal protection.”
A Turning Point
Ibrahim Mohamed Ishaq (35) arrived at the crossing on November 22 with his wife and two daughters (aged three and five). They had been living at the Abu Shouk camp in northern El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
El Fasher fell to the RSF in late October after 18 months of violence, marking a turning point in the two-and-a-half-year war between the paramilitary forces and the Sudanese army.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 100,000 people are believed to have fled the city, with an estimated 9,500 arriving in Chad. IOM estimates that around 180 people cross the border into Tina each day.
Ishaq and several relatives fled El Fasher on donkey-back the day before the RSF stormed the city. He said RSF fighters chased them and others along the way, and he witnessed more than four of his relatives being shot dead. “God protected us, and we escaped safely,” he said.
After crossing the border, the family stopped at a mobile clinic where an MSF nurse gave medicine to the three-year-old. They then proceeded to a UNHCR checkpoint, where an International Committee of the Red Cross representative handed Ishaq and his family a kit containing an empty water jug, a plastic teapot, two bars of soap, two plastic buckets, and a plastic sheet.
The family was later transported to a transit point about six kilometers from the border, joining between 1,400 and 1,600 refugees waiting to be relocated to other camps further inside Chad. Dozens told Reuters similar stories of violent encounters during their escape from Sudan and their struggle to survive since then.
Aziza Mustafa (62) showed an X-ray of a bullet lodged in her side, saying she needs 500 million Sudanese pounds (about US$1,500) for surgery.
Noura Mohamed Yahya (38), nine months pregnant and living with her children under a tree outside the transit camp compound, fled three months ago from North Darfur. She crossed into Tina in early November after drone attacks. She said she has made no plans for when she gives birth, asking what she could possibly do without food or clothes.
