The demand from refugees has caused food prices to skyrocket in local markets, and cases of malnutrition have increased in health centres.
“This is an additional strain on the entire Chadian population,” said Pierre Honorat, WFP director in Chad. “It’s getting very difficult.”
A similar scene is also unfolding in South Sudan, where around 35,000 people have come from Sudan. Most are South Sudanese who fled north to escape violence in their country.
“We left our homes in South Sudan. We left our homes in Sudan. We left our homes everywhere to sit in the desert like this,” said Suzanne William, who was a nurse in Khartoum when the fighting began. was working as Was waiting for food outside and near the border.
Elsewhere in Africa, other disasters are also vying for the money, including a severe famine in Somalia.
Worried about support from traditional donors, aid agencies are drawing on new sources – especially Gulf states – but they are struggling.
“To be honest, I’m really worried about 2023,” Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters.
“The only fully funded operation in the world is now in Ukraine. All other operations are catastrophically underfunded.”