Sudan extends opening of Adre border crossing for aid

Sudan’s sovereign council said on November 13th that use of the Adre border crossing with Chad, viewed as essential by aid agencies, will be extended, according to the Arab News via Reuters.

The cross, which was closed by an order from the army-controlled government in February, was re-opened for three months in August, with a date of expiry set at November 15th. It has not been clear whether that would be extended until now.

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There have been protests against the opening by government members, who say it allows the RSF militia to deliver weapons across the border. Sudan’s army is not in control of the crossing which lies with territory seized last year by the RSF.

Aid agencies had been anticipating and preparing fort he closure of the corridor, which is seen as a more efficient route than cross-line deliveries from army-controlled Port Sudan or the more remote border crossing of Al-Tina.

Adre has ben more than 30 aid trucks with supplies for more than 1.3 million people cross it, according to Ramesh Rajasingham, a UN humanitarian co-ordination official, in a briefing to the UN Security Council on November 12th.

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World Food Programme spokesperson Leni Kinzil told reporters on November 12th that the WFP had moved a convoy of 15 trucks across Adre with food and nutrition for 12,500 people in famine-stricken Zamzam camp on November 10th.

Reuters, The New Arab