UAE delivers food to flood-affected people in Chad

The United Arab Emirates on Saturday sent a plane carrying 30.6 tons of food to parts of Chad affected by recent floods, including the capital N’Djamena.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said the aid will help more than 442,000 people, especially the elderly, women and children.

Rashid Al Shamsi, UAE Ambassador to Chad, said: “These foods are part of the UAE leadership’s keenness to strengthen bilateral ties with African countries, especially Chad, with which the UAE has a strong historical relationship.”

Mr Al Shamsi said the food supply reflected the UAE’s solidarity with Chad and its efforts to assist them. Providing aid is part of the UAE’s humanitarian approach to providing emergency relief to other countries in times of crisis and natural disasters, he said.

From 2017 to 2021, the UAE’s aid to Chad, worth AED100 million ($27 million), supports various humanitarian and developmental causes, he said.

Chad declared a state of emergency on Thursday as the country suffered its worst flooding in three decades.

Heavy rains caused flooding in 18 of the country’s 23 provinces, the president said Wednesday, displacing more than 1 million people.

This flood President Mahamat Idriss Deby said thousands of hectares of crops were destroyed and “devoured … 19,000 heads of livestock”. No deaths were reported.

In N’Djamena, tents have sprung up to provide emergency shelter as victims struggle to salvage all they can from the rubble of their homes, Agence France-Presse reported.

In Valia, an impoverished community in the south of the city, last week, the Chari River washed away its banks due to torrential rains and damaged dozens of homes, the report said.

Water levels rose five metres, which local officials said was unprecedented, and washed away makeshift defences erected by desperate residents.

According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Chad is the third poorest country in the world. The United Nations says 5.5 million citizens are in need of “emergency humanitarian assistance”.

The World Food Programme says the country is facing a looming food crisis affecting more than 2 million people.

Chad’s worst floods in three decades – pictures

Updated: October 22, 2022 10:49 am