History of Abeche

On October 30, 2007, the city came to international attention when 17 French volunteers working for the charity Zoé's Ark were arrested there for alleged child abduction.

Abeche is the centrum for the delivery of humanitarian assistance for approx. 240,000 Darfurian refugees living in 12 camps east of the town, in the border region to Sudan. A number of organizations opened office 2003 and 2004, e.g. UNHCR, the Red Cross, the German GTZ and UNICEF