Trucks loaded with food aid as well as plastic sheeting and other emergency supplies are to leave for the site on 6 February from the main eastern Chadian town and humanitarian hub of Abéché, according to Annette Rehrl, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Chad. UNHCR, which is organising the convoy, is sending eight staff. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is sending 82.5 metric tons of food – enough to cover 10,000 people for 15 days, according to Gon Myers of WFP in Chad. It is not clear how long the 720-km trek will take. Roads are poor and this would be the first UN humanitarian convoy to the area, as it is the first time in several years that CAR refugees have crossed the border at this point, according to Rehrl. On 28 January a joint UN mission to the area (near the village of Daha some 280km from the nearest town Am Timan) recorded 4,500 people at the site. Most of them had arrived on 16-17 January.

"I am extremely concerned at the impact the fighting is having on the already dire humanitarian situation in Muhajiriya," High Commissioner Navi Pillay said on 3 February. The fighting, which started on 15 January, has claimed at least 30 lives and uprooted some 30,000 people from their homes. It pits government forces and the Sudanese Liberation Army/Mini Minnawi faction (SLA/MM) against the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The SLA/MM faction is led by Mini Minnawi, who became a presidential adviser after signing a peace deal with the government in 2006. In recent days, about 5,000 of the displaced civilians have sought refuge around the African Union-UN Mission (UNAMID) compound in Muhajiriya, about 80km east of the state capital, Nyala. Others have fled to seek shelter in the outskirts of the town.