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- More than 15 000 refugees from Sudan have crossed into Chad.
- About 320 government soldiers were disarmed and taken captive in Chad as they also fled from Sudan.
- Sudan is home to more than a million refugees whose security is not guaranteed as fighting rages.
An estimated 15 000 refugees have fled Sudan into Chad within less than a week of a gunfire exchange between government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the International Rescue Committee has said.
The chaotic situation has also seen more than 300 government forces skipping into Chad as they flee the RSF.
The Chadian army said it had disarmed and detained forces loyal to Sudan's de facto president Abdel Fattah al Burhan.
Chad's Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim told the press that 320 government soldiers "arrived in our territory, were disarmed and detained."
He said the civil war in Sudan didn't concern Chad at this stage but they must prepare for eventualities by being vigilant.
With the conflict seeing trained soldiers running scared, it can only be worse for civilians, especially women and children.
Aleksandra Roulet-Cimpric, IRC's Chad Country Director, said they have recorded an influx of refugees.
"Up to 15 000 people are estimated to have arrived over the border from Sudan into Chad since last weekend," she said.
Many of those arriving in Chad have been traumatised by the sudden war between the ruling military junta partners.
"We are seeing that the refugees arriving over the border are traumatised and arriving with little provisions," she said.
The arrival of refugees poses a bigger humanitarian crisis for Chad which already has a prolonged multi-dimensional crisis caused by the displacement of people fleeing conflict in neighbouring countries.
Currently, 449 700 refugees and asylum seekers from war and insecurity in Nigeria, the Central African Republic, and Sudan are hosted by Chad, which is home to 657 000 displaced people, 51% of them women and girls and 57% children, according to the United Nations.
The new arrivals from Sudan require food, water and medical attention which numerous aid agencies in Chad are looking into providing.
"There are relief organisations that are providing support to new arrivals and as of now, the greatest need is for health services as well as water, sanitation, hygiene and protection services, particularly for women and girls," Roulet-Cimpric said.
IRC's regional office is in Sudan's Khartoum with three field offices in El-Gadarif, Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
But the operations in Sudan have been shut down due to the conflict.
The war will also cripple Sudan's efforts to house refugees that are also fleeing other conflict areas in the region.
As the war rages on, the safety of 1.1 million refugees, one of the largest refugee populations in Africa, is not guaranteed.
Around 70% of refugees in Sudan are from South Sudan and about 60 000 are from Ethiopia's Tigray region.
There are also internally displaced people from the Darfur region, estimated to be about three million.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
