ADRE, Chad — Every day, Fatima Omas Abdullah wakes up on the hard ground, her body aching after nearly two years of living in temporary conditions away from her home in Sudan. Displaced by the ongoing civil strife, she did not anticipate finding herself in a foreign land like Chad for such an extended period.
“There’s nothing here,” she lamented through tears, shaking the straw door of her shelter. Abdullah has been residing in the Adre transit camp since April 2023, along with nearly 250,000 others who have sought refuge from the conflict in Sudan.
However, the lifeline provided by international aid, which has sustained countless individuals like Abdullah on the brink of one of the planet’s most severe humanitarian crises, is unraveling. Significant cuts to foreign aid under the Trump administration have resulted in a withdrawal of funding from crucial United Nations programs that supply food, health care, and shelter for refugees.
While the United States contributed $39.3 million to emergency efforts in Chad in 2024, this year’s contributions have only amounted to $6.8 million, according to U.N. data. Alarmingly, a mere 13% of the required financial aid to support Chad’s refugees has been met by global donors.
In Adre, the already insufficient humanitarian services were intended to be a temporary solution, as refugees were supposed to move to more permanent camps deeper within Chad.
Nevertheless, a significant number of Sudanese prefer to stay put. Many are buoyed by the Sudanese military’s recent advances against rival forces in Khartoum. Consequently, the refugee population in this remote, arid region has expanded dramatically, driving up prices and increasing competition for scarce resources like water.
Adre shares these challenges with other areas. As conflict intensifies in Sudan’s Darfur region, another influx of refugees has generated a new transit camp called Tine, witnessing the arrival of 46,000 individuals since late April.
With reduced aid, even fewer resources are available for these new arrivals.
Adre currently hosts approximately 235,000 Sudanese, part of the 1.2 million who have crossed into eastern Chad seeking safety.
Historically, Adre was a modest town of 40,000. As refugees poured in, local residents offered them land in an expression of solidarity rooted in longstanding cross-border connections.
Now, the landscape is dominated by bustling markets and makeshift homes, as well as indicators that some Sudanese plan to remain permanently. Sudanese businesses are a significant part of Adre’s economy, with locals and refugees alike trading goods in Sudanese pounds.
“There is mutual respect between our communities,” said Asadiq Hamid Abdullah, a resident who operates a donkey cart. “But everyone notices that food prices have increased.”
Given Chad’s economic challenges, where nearly half the population lives in poverty, locals highlight the quadrupled cost of water since Sudan’s civil conflict began escalating. Sudanese women reported disputes erupting at sparse water distribution points established by aid organizations.
Food relief is similarly at risk of depletion. The World Food Program’s resources for Sudanese refugees are funded only until July amid the aid cuts, necessitating a 30% staff reduction globally. The U.N. refugee agency has also experienced a 30% budget cut for eastern Chad.
Seeking to survive, Samia Ahmed, who is pregnant and has a young child, has taken up cleaning and laundry jobs because program rations fall short each month.
“I dread what the future holds,” she confessed.
Fillers in place of aid
Sudanese refugees are attempting to bridge the gap left by aid cuts by establishing private schools and humanitarian facilities, including a health clinic and a women’s center.
However, both local and U.N. officials are urging them to relocate from Adre as the area is becoming overly populated.
“A sprawling city,” described Hamit Hadjer Abdullai from Chad’s National Commission for the Reception and Reintegration of Refugees.
The rise in population has led to increasing crime rates. Authorities have highlighted the presence of a Sudanese gang, the Colombians, although Abdullai noted that several members have been apprehended.
“There is an urgent need for relocation,” insisted Benoit Kayembe Mukendi, the U.N.’s local representative. “For their safety and to curb potential security threats.”
As tensions rise over land use, Mukendi predicted an impending larger security issue.
Nevertheless, many Sudanese are reluctant to move. Numerous refugees told stories of being relocated only to return to Adre, seeking proximity to their homeland and its economic opportunities.
This choice carries risks, as evidenced by individuals like Zohal Abdullah Hamad, who returned to Adre to run a coffee stand only to suffer gunshot injuries during a sudden violent altercation.
“I felt numb and paralyzed,” she recounted in tears, having now closed her business.
Newcomers to Adre no longer have the option to settle; they are immediately transferred to other camps. The U.N. estimates that around 2,000 individuals are relocated daily.
In the rapidly growing settlement of Tine, approximately 180 kilometers (111 miles) north of Adre, 46,000 refugees have arrived from Northern Darfur just since late April.
The stream of arrivals has left U.N. officials astonished.
Crowded conditions force masses to compete for meager food supplies, seeking shelter under makeshift shades in the open desert. Newly arrived refugees bring with them stories of violence back home: assaults, theft, and the brutal murder of loved ones.
Diminished U.S. aid means the U.N. and its partners cannot mount the thorough response they once did when refugees first flooded into Adre following the conflict’s onset, noted U.N. representative Jean Paul Habamungu Samvura.
“Facing another Adre scenario here would be catastrophic.”