Chad has declared a “food emergency” due to the “permanent deterioration of the food situation” as a result of the war in Ukraine, according to a decree signed by the head of the ruling military council, Mohamed Idris Debi Itno.

The decree commends the “growing danger faced by the population if humanitarian assistance, including food, is not provided,” emphasizing that “the government calls on all national actors and international partners to help the population.”

In 2021, the United Nations said that 5.5 million Chadians, more than a third of the population of a landlocked country in Central Africa, were in need of “urgent humanitarian assistance”. The situation was aggravated by the war in Ukraine, when Russia disrupted the export of Ukrainian grain.

Russia’s war with Ukraine (together they account for 30% of world wheat exports) led to higher prices for grain and oil than recorded during the “Arab Spring” in 2011, and to hunger riots in 2008.