Urgent Humanitarian Assistance Needed for Thousands Stranded Migrants and Nationals Amid Tensions in Northern Chad
N’Djaména – Last week, 1,500 migrants and Chadians working in a goldmine in Miski, Northern Chad, were forced to evacuate after security forces managed to encircle an unauthorized goldmine where over several thousand migrants were working.
After attempts by the Chadian army to liberate the illegal miners from forced labour networks and illegal gold mining operations, the Chadian government put the mines under its control. Stranded miners are being brought to Faya, the region’s largest city.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the only humanitarian agency present in northern Chad, estimates that over 40,000 migrants, as well as some Chadians, had been working in goldmine areas in northern Chad. As the lone responders to government appeals to address the movement crisis in the North, IOM has been providing stranded gold miners with food and non-food items such as mosquito nets, and emergency transitional shelter tents.
The first 330 most vulnerable migrants have arrived in Faya, 400 km south of Miski, after traveling by trucks for several days. Many of the stranded migrants are nationals of neighboring countries such as Niger, Nigeria, Sudan and Cameroon. Nearly a third are younger than 18 years of age.
Many left the precarious mines before being able to collect their salaries, therefore many now are without means to return to their countries or areas of origin. The migrants are currently being assisted in returning from Chad to their countries of origin by IOM.
The resources available to the local population of the small town of Faya, where between 12,000 to 14,000 inhabitants reside, are facing significant strain. Additionally, local authorities lack means to provide immediate assistance to stranded migrants.
The Ministry of Territorial Administration of Chad requested IOM to support an anticipated 1,500 vulnerable migrants but at least USD 500,000 remains urgently needed to provide immediate assistance as well as voluntary return assistance to the thousands of migrants still stranded in Northern Chad, and those seeking interim refuge in Faya.
So far, the EU-IOM Joint initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration funded by the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa has supported the assistance of non-Chadians and the Federal Republic of Germany has supported the assistance provided to Chadians.
For more information, please contact Anne Schaefer, IOM Chad. Tel: +235 602 817 78; Email: aschaefer@iom.int
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Context: The region in northern Chad continues to attract sub-Saharan workers, particularly due to the presence of gold mines considered by some migrants as providing an opportunity to secure funds before continuing their journey northward.
Gold mining areas in Chad are also a well-known transit points along the migratory routes for West and Central African migrants. Many of the stranded migrants report to IOM staff that they had been forcibly employed in the mines for months, with many transported by traffickers working without payment until their ‘placement debts’ were considered repaid. |