Sudan’s government said on Monday it would allow aid agencies to use the Adre border crossing for a further three months as of February 16.
The government had last year restricted use of the crossing, which is crucial to reach famine-stricken parts of the Darfur region, saying that the rival Rapid Support Forces used it to transport weapons deliveries, which it denied.
Global monitors say that more than 6-million people face food insecurity across Darfur, which is mostly controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the army’s rival in a 16-month war, and that famine has taken hold in north Darfur’s Zamzam camp.
Aid agencies have said that the prohibition on using the crossing, physically controlled by the RSF, is stranding thousands of tonnes of aid in Chad, as the army’s only approved crossing into the region, al-Tina, has been inundated by heavy rains.
Deliveries through other approved points, including the five crossings designated by the government’s de facto capital in Port Sudan, take longer and involve crossing multiple battle lines, aid agencies say.
Reuters Shakirat Sadiq
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