• In eastern Chad, repeated attacks on villages have forced approximately 180,000 Chadians to flee their homes. Chad is also hosting around 285,000 refugees from Darfur. Grouped together in camps, children and their families are living in basic shelters and lack food, water and access to medical care.

• Save the Children is continuing to support around 35,000 children in Chad, with staff in Koukou, Dogdore, Abeche and Hadjer Hadid. The work includes education projects, distributing emergency supplies such as blankets and plastic sheeting, setting up safe places for children to play and shelter, and running nutrition programmes to reach malnourished children.

The four key messages

• A US$300 million global aid operation supporting millions of people in Chad is now under threat as violence in the capital disrupts the aid supply chain. The whole humanitarian network in Chad is dependent on planes flying in and out of the capital. As the violence disrupts N’djamena, children and families across the whole country will suffer.

• Children in Chad are vulnerable to abuse and separation from their families, have little means of getting food, clean water or healthcare, and many are missing out on school. At the moment Save the Children’s operations are continuing. But it is only a matter of days before things could grind to a halt. In particular, the violence in N’djamena is disrupting banking services, making it difficult for us to pay for all the things we need to carry out our work.

• Chad is an extremely dangerous place to work. It is a large country and aid agencies can only move around by air because the roads are very unsafe. Some airlines have stopped flights and the UN is evacuating staff. Save the Children has no independent means of moving aid and staff, and if the violence continues, our humanitarian operations will be severely hampered. This new fighting in the capital is directly increasing the suffering of vulnerable children across the country.

• Fierce fighting in N’djamena has driven large numbers across the bridge into northern Cameroon, prompting fears for the safety of children. In a situation where a lot of people are fleeing, it is very likely that children will be separated from their parents. Save the Children is very concerned that children will be at risk and without adequate humanitarian assistance.

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