Adre is supposed to be a town in transition: on the border between Chad and Sudan, originally used for cross-border trade, it is now a transit point for people fleeing civil war and famine in what some diplomats call “the world's worst humanitarian crisis.”
More than 600,000 refugees have reportedly fled Sudan to Chad in the past 16 months, meaning neighboring Chad has taken in more Sudanese refugees in one year than it did in the past 20 years combined, many of whom have settled at makeshift border posts, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. An additional 10 million people have been forcibly displaced within Sudan since the civil war began in April 2023.
The newly arrived families, mostly women and children, are heavily reliant on assistance from humanitarian organizations, but they must first wait to be registered, a process that can take days, says Nicolò Filippo Rosso, a documentary photographer who visited refugee camps in Chad earlier this summer while on a trip with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Upon arriving in the border town of Adre in Wadai governorate, the Sudanese women and children registered with Chadian authorities.
Rosso recalls recently arriving at the Adre refugee camp with her children and meeting a pregnant woman who was close to giving birth. The woman told him of her plight: her children were tired from walking, had high fevers and were not eating properly.
The town of Adre is in chaos. “I've seen a lot about migration in a lot of places, but this is the first time I've realized it couldn't be this bad,” says Rosso. “There's a lot of intervention by NGOs and UN agencies, but it's not complete. Adre is very close to the border, so it's not safe: gangs attack the camps at night, raping women and girls, and arms trade is common.”
Still, there are several obstacles to aid distribution. Adre was closed to international aid for six months, but on August 15 it was announced that the embargo had been lifted. In June, the UNHCR said it had received just 10 percent of the $214.8 million aid request needed to help refugees at the border. UNHCR said the request came just before the rainy season, which usually lasts until September, could exacerbate the existing crisis and trigger outbreaks of water-borne diseases.
Sudanese refugee women draw water from a well in Adre refugee camp. Nicolò Filippo Rosso
Rosso, who has had malaria, pneumonia and COVID-19 himself, said contracting these diseases is very common. “Malaria is treatable, COVID-19 is treatable, but it's open (defecation), there's no sanitation, people's living conditions are bad,” he said.
The photographer, who has documented other migrant crises in the Americas, typically works in black and white, but for this project he used color to better show “the dignity of Sudanese refugees and their tolerance towards each other and others.”
“These women, who are alone and have experienced all kinds of violence, are there with their children, proud,” Rosso says. “The colors are also full of detail that can sometimes distract from the pain.”
Namark Babiqir (left) and Hawa Adam (right) stand together during their wedding ceremony in Adre refugee camp. Nicolò Filippo RossoSudanese refugees cross into neighboring Chad at the border town of Adre. Nicolò Filippo RossoSudanese women and children register with Chadian authorities upon arrival in Adre. Nicolò Filippo RossoAfra Amdelkarim Hamid, 24, and her two-year-old son Mandub wait to be seen by medical staff at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Aboutenge, a refugee camp in eastern Chad, a few hours from Adre. Aboutenge is home to around 50,000 refugees who fled the ongoing fighting in Sudan. Nicolò Filippo RossoWomen put on shawls as a sandstorm rages through Adre refugee camp. With no proper sanitation and open defecation commonplace, the wind is blowing up trash and scattering it around the camp. Nicolò Filippo Rosso Sudanese refugees wait for WFP's monthly food distribution in Adre. Nicolò Filippo Rosso Alsadiq Isshaq Albab, 45, relies on a walking stick after being injured while fleeing fighting in his native Sudan for neighbouring Chad. Nicolò Filippo RossoTwo young boys traverse the rugged terrain around Abtenge refugee camp. Nicolò Filippo RossoPeople unload food from a WFP truck during a monthly distribution in Abtenge. Nicolò Filippo RossoSudanese women from Geneina living in Abtenge refugee camp stack 1,000 francs (equivalent to US$1.60) a day to make bricks, not enough to feed one person. Nicolò Filippo RossoAhmat Abukar Bakhit, a 27-year-old Sudanese refugee, is fitted with a prosthetic limb at a clinic run by the charity Handicap International in Aboutenge. Refugee camp. Ahmat lost a leg in a bombing raid in his native Sudan, and the injury has compounded the already difficult task of adapting to his new life as a refugee in Chad. But now, thanks to an important contribution from the European Union, he has a prosthetic limb and is undergoing physiotherapy aimed at learning how to adapt to his new limb. Nicolò Filippo RossoChildren play on metal structures in Adre refugee camp. UNICEF reports that around four million children in Sudan face acute malnutrition, and budget cuts have led to reduced food rations for residents in Chad's refugee camps, such as Adre. Nicolò Filippo RossoNaba Akbar Ajiene, an eight-year-old Sudanese girl whose family fled to neighboring Chad, poses in front of a building in Aboutenge. Her father, Abubakar, was injured in his native Sudan, compounding the already difficult challenge of adapting to life as a refugee. Nicolò Filippo Rosso A sandstorm hits the Adre refugee camp. Nicolò Filippo Rosso
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