N’Djamena, 16 July 2022 (TDI): Mahamat Deby, President of the Republic of Chad reaffirmed the country’s open refugee policy and additional support to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi following his four-day visit to the country.
Chad requires greater support as it continues to host hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing violence on its eastern, western, and southern borders as well as grappling with its own insecurity challenges.
The President of the Transitional Military Council, General Mahamat I. Deby, reaffirmed Chad’s open refugee policies and said we should do more for host communities at a time of food and climate challenges. I pledged support by UNHCR and its humanitarian and development partners. pic.twitter.com/AWfbRAF9hf
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) July 15, 2022
Refugees and Chad
Located in Africa’s turbulent Sahel region, Chad is home to more than 1 million forcibly displaced people.
It also hosts nearly 600,000 refugees and 400,000 internally displaced people. It is one of the largest host states in Africa for refugees.
Protracted conflicts in the region have added to this count. There are 580,000 refugees from conflicts in neighboring Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Cameroon.
Further, there are 380,000 Chadians who have fled insecurity to other areas and 100,000 former refugees who have returned to the country.
Highlights from the visit
Chad is one of the largest operations in the region for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
During his visit, Grandi traveled to meet Sudanese refugees who have been living in camps since the start of the conflict in the neighboring Darfur region nearly 20 years ago. Grandi also spoke to Cameroonian refugees at the country’s border.
The President of Chad also reaffirmed the continued open refugee policy during the visit. The High Commissioner said that Chad requires more humanitarian and development funding. Grandi concluded that the international community should also prioritize longer-term solutions to the challenges facing the country and its government.
