Sudan

Tens of thousands of children and women flee brutal attacks in Sudan

© UNICEF Chad/2003/Page

Fatima, 9, is one of 110,000 Sudanese refugees now benefiting from UNICEF support in eastern Chad

1 APRIL 2004, N’DJAMENA – Some 110,000 Sudanese refugees, the majority children and women, have recently fled into Chad’s remote and forbidding eastern desert region following brutal attacks on their  villages.

“We had to run from our village when they attacked it and set it on fire,” says Fatima, a nine-year-old girl who fled to Chad with her mother and siblings.

“I ran at night with my mother and my little brother and sisters. We had to leave everything behind. We only have our clothes. We walked so long to get here,” says Fatima. “My father is not with us. I don’t want to go back to our village. I’m too scared … I don’t want to be killed. It’s safe here.”

The attackers have killed civilians, raped women, abducted children, burned villages and stolen livestock.

UNICEF Chad is assisting many refugees and local Chadian communities where they settle, including:

• distributing blankets;
• immunizing children against measles and providing Vitamin A supplements;
• delivering school-in-a-box kits and supplying Arabic school books from UNICEF Sudan to support education activities;
• distributing family water kits;
• delivering mid-wife kits;
• supplying therapeutic milk for treating malnourished children;
• educating refugees on good hygiene to prevent disease;
• water and sanitation activities;
• monitoring child refugees;
• and supplying footballs so children can play.