Chadians Take Refuge in Cameroon

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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

When refugees fleeing the recent rebel assault on Chad's capital, N'Djamena, first arrived in the border town of Kousseri in Cameroon, they camped haphazardly on the ground wherever they found space.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

Women and children were most numerous in the camps, since husbands often stayed behind in NDjamena to guard homes from looters.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

Young and old alike fled Chad. Rorum Jaem, born in 1927, says he walked from his home in NDjamena several kilometers away.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

Chad and Cameroon are separated by no more than a strip of Lake Chad. The presidential palace in NDjamena is clearly visible from Cameroons lakeside beaches
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

Tents for 800 people initially lined the bare landscape in Maltam as refugees arrived by truck from Kousseri.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

At the new camp in Maltam, refugees await registration before collecting their belongings and settling into rows of canvas tents.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

So far, about 2,400 refugees are settled in Maltam, with many more expected.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

Each family was given food for two weeks, along with blankets, mats, mosquito nets, pots, jerry cans, buckets and lantern
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

Esther Deborah with her children and mother in their new home.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

The bustling market in Kousseri offered a place for refugees to buy and sell their own goods but in Maltam, few have been able to do so.
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Credit: Elizabeth Dickinson/AllAfrica

Digging latrines in Maltam is complicated by dusty condition