A survey carried out by ICRC staff showed that some displaced families who had found refuge in Dogdoré, a town south-east of Abéché and about 50 km from the Sudanese border, were so needy that they did not have enough food to meet their basic needs. Their situation was aggravated by the fact that they had no access to arable land.

"This distribution was intended to help the most deprived families, those unable to satisfy minimum food needs," explained Jules Amoti, the ICRC's relief coordinator in the area. "Some of these people have been displaced a number of times already, and even if they own arable land, they're cut off from it by the poor security situation."

The one-time operation, which will last until 15 November, is providing over 11,000 people with food rations for 60 days (sorghum, beans, vegetable oil, sugar and salt). The distribution also eases the burden on the local population, which lives in an area with scarce and remote resources that have been stretched to the limit by the influx of displaced people.

A neutral and independent humanitarian organization, the ICRC has been working in Chad since 1977. It conducts its operations in the east of the country out of its sub-delegation in Abéché, opened in 2004, and its various bases and offices in Iriba, Adré, Guéréda, Dogdoré and Goz-Beida. Its work is aimed at meeting the needs of civilians affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence in eastern Chad.