More than 55,000 Sudanese refugees have fled into eastern Chad since the beginning of 2026, UNHCR said in a Geneva briefing on 25 September, with daily border crossings at Adré and Tiné now exceeding 400 people — roughly 20 times the rate seen in prior months. The figures were presented by Mamadou Dian Balde, UN Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Situation and UNHCR's Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, and were reported by Reuters, Al Jazeera, UN News and several Chadian outlets, including Tchadinfos and Wakat Séra, all drawing on the same UNHCR statement.
Balde attributed the acceleration to intensified fighting, airstrikes and drone attacks across Darfur, the Kordofans and Blue Nile State, which he said are also restricting humanitarian access inside Sudan. He described refugees telling UNHCR staff that they were fleeing aerial bombardments and drone attacks. These accounts rest on UNHCR's own reporting from the field rather than independent battlefield verification. The Tiné transit centre, designed for a far smaller caseload, held more than 4,300 people as of 20 September, facing acute shortages of shelter, water and sanitation, according to Balde.
The response plan covering the regional Sudan crisis across seven countries requires $1.6 billion but is only 18% funded, UNHCR said. A small number of secondary reports rounded that figure to 20%, but UNHCR's own briefing and Reuters' reporting both put it at 18%. More than 190,000 refugees remain in precarious conditions near the border, unable to be relocated to better-equipped inland sites because of the shortfall, Balde said, with most surviving on less than half the minimum daily water requirement.
Cumulative totals for Sudanese refugees who have crossed into Chad since the war began in April 2023 vary slightly by source: UNHCR's own briefing describes the total as 'almost 1 million,' while other tallies — reflecting different reporting dates or whether pre-2023 Darfur refugees are included — cite figures ranging from roughly 954,000 to more than 1.3 million.
UNHCR warns the funding shortfall, combined with the surge in arrivals, risks pushing more Sudanese refugees toward dangerous onward journeys to Europe. The agency points to a 245% year-on-year increase in Sudanese sea arrivals in 2025 — more than 14,100 people — as an early indicator of that dynamic. What to watch: whether donor pledges close the funding gap before conditions in Tiné and Adré deteriorate further, and whether the Sudan offensives described by UNHCR are corroborated by independent conflict monitors in the weeks ahead.