Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council decided on Thursday to open the Adre border crossing with Chad for three months to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Darfur region, which is suffering from a severe humanitarian crisis.
According to Reuters, more than 6 million people in Darfur are facing food insecurity, and hunger has spread in the Zamzam camp in North Darfur.
The region is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, and some experts have indicated that these forces received arms shipments from the UAE via Chad earlier this year.
Aid agencies explained that the ban on the use of the Adre crossing, which is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, has led to the accumulation of thousands of tons of aid in Chad, as heavy rains have flooded the only other crossing designated for the army, the Tina crossing.
In a comment, the Deputy Chairman of the Humanitarian Aid Commission in Sudan, Osman Khojali, said that calls for a Security Council resolution to open the Adre crossing are part of a “political agenda” aimed at violating Sudan’s sovereignty, noting that these calls seek to allow aid to enter without taking into account national sovereignty.
It is noteworthy that the decision of the Transitional Sovereignty Council to open the crossing comes at a sensitive time, as Sudan had announced its non-participation in the recent Geneva talks aimed at ending the conflict and facilitating humanitarian aid, which may be an attempt to preempt international pressures related to humanitarian aid.
South Sudan plans to hold its first elections since independence in 2011