Sudan crisis sparks fresh wave of Darfur refugees into Chad
The exhausted faces of the people who have just crossed the Sudanese border into Chad encapsulate the devastation and suffering they have experienced.
This is not just a result of the fighting that erupted on 15 April between Sudan’s two leading generals but also of two decades of conflict in the country’s Darfur region.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than 100,000 people have fled the latest round of violence - the largest number have gone to Chad.
Darfur has been in turmoil for years with violence between its various African and Arab communities.
When non-Arabs took up arms against the government in 2003, complaining about discrimination, the government retaliated by mobilising mostly Arab militias who were accused of widespread atrocities.
Now Arab militias - linked to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that is fighting the army - appear to be taking advantage of the security vacuum. They have been accused of unleashing violence that has led to an exodus of people from Darfur.
Some have ended up in a temporary refugee camp in the Chadian village of Koufroune.
An estimated 8,000 are at the camp, having managed to flee with a few of their belongings and livestock, a valuable asset that could help ease the hardship.
Mahmoud Adam Hamad made two dangerous trips last week across the border to bring his two wives and eight children from Darfur. “I made my journey mainly at night. I brought them in, moving from one location to another with my family until we arrived.
“I was nearly robbed on the second trip,” he tells the BBC, standing next to his temporary shelter made up of sticks and plastic sheeting. His village was previously attacked in Darfur. He lost his farm and animals and some of his relatives were killed by a militia known as the Janjaweed.
“We were beaten and lashed. We begged them for our release.”