More than 400 Sudanese refugees a day crossed into eastern Chad during the week before September 25, a twentyfold increase from the daily rate recorded over the previous several months, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
UNHCR said the new arrivals entered through the Adré and Tiné border areas as continued violence and insecurity in Sudan drove more families to seek safety in Chad. The influx is adding pressure to border locations where large numbers of refugees already lack adequate shelter, water and other essential services.
More than 55,000 Sudanese refugees had arrived in eastern Chad since the beginning of 2026, UNHCR reported on September 25. Their arrival brought the total number of people who have crossed into Chad since Sudan’s conflict began in April 2023 to almost 1 million.
The agency linked the latest displacement to continued fighting across Darfur, the Kordofans and other parts of Sudan. It also cited airstrikes and drone attacks as factors forcing people from Kordofan and Blue Nile states to flee their homes and move toward the border.
The rapid increase comes as the humanitarian response faces a major shortage of money. Only 18% of the $1.6 billion sought for the 2026 regional refugee response plan had been received as of September 25, according to UNHCR.
Mamadou Dian Balde, the UN Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Situation and UNHCR’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, warned that the funding gap directly limits assistance available to displaced people.
“It means less food. It means less capacity for people to be relocated to safer areas. It means less capacity to shelter themselves,” Balde told Reuters.
The shortfall is particularly acute in eastern Chad’s border areas, where more than 190,000 refugees remained in difficult conditions while waiting to be transferred to planned settlements farther inland. UNHCR said approximately 31,000 families did not have adequate shelter.
Water supplies were also far below basic humanitarian requirements. Most refugees were surviving on less than half the minimum daily amount of water, according to the agency. The combination of insufficient shelter and limited water has increased the urgency of relocating families from border zones to sites where services can be organized more sustainably.
At the transit centre in Tiné, more than 4,300 people were being hosted despite urgent needs for additional shelter, clean water, sanitation and protection services. The centre is one of the main reception points for refugees crossing into eastern Chad, where humanitarian organizations must register new arrivals and provide immediate support before relocation is possible.
The acceleration in crossings puts further strain on that process. At more than 400 arrivals each day during the reported week, agencies must respond to immediate needs while also assisting refugees who have remained near the border for longer periods.
UNHCR’s figures illustrate the widening gap between the scale of displacement and the resources available to address it. Nearly 1 million Sudanese refugees have now entered Chad during the conflict, while the regional plan intended to support refugees and host areas has received less than one-fifth of its required funding.
Without additional resources, aid agencies have less capacity to provide food, build shelters, expand water and sanitation systems, offer protection services and move vulnerable families away from exposed border locations. The latest arrivals join hundreds of thousands of people already dependent on a humanitarian operation that UNHCR says is struggling to meet minimum needs.
The continuing movement from Sudan also indicates that pressure on eastern Chad is unlikely to be limited to a single border point. UNHCR identified insecurity in several Sudanese regions as the cause of displacement, with refugees reaching Chad through both Adré and Tiné during the recent surge.
For those who have crossed, immediate safety from fighting does not end the humanitarian emergency. Tens of thousands of families remain without sufficient shelter, most receive inadequate quantities of water, and crowded reception facilities require urgent improvements. UNHCR’s appeal underscores that addressing those conditions depends on donors closing a funding gap that remained substantial more than halfway through 2026.
