A small portion of humanitarian aid has made its way into Sudan’s famine-stricken Darfur region through the Adre border crossing from Chad this week, following a temporary lift of the ban on deliveries by the Sudanese army.
The 16-month-long civil war has left Darfur under the control of the army’s rivals, who also oversee the Adre crossing, the fastest route into the region.
In February, the Sudanese army had halted aid deliveries via this corridor, citing concerns that it was being used to smuggle arms. However, last week, the army reversed this decision, allowing aid to flow through the crossing for the next three months.
Despite the reopening, only 15 out of 131 trucks at the border managed to pass through before the Sudanese government ordered a halt to further movements until certain procedural agreements were finalized.
Justin Brady, head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan, confirmed on X that no further trucks would be allowed to move until the newly received procedures were agreed upon. The World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Wednesday that food supplies, including sorghum, pulses, oil, and rice sufficient for 13,000 people, had crossed into Darfur, destined for Kreinik in West Darfur—a region experts warn is at high risk of famine. However, the WFP emphasized that they have enough food ready to assist 500,000 people, underscoring the scale of the crisis.
With more than six million people facing food insecurity in Darfur and over 25 million nationwide, the situation remains dire. It was still uncertain by Thursday whether the aid had reached its destination in Kreinik. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have previously been accused by aid agencies of looting supplies, issued a statement on Wednesday welcoming the aid deliveries. Meanwhile, a document from the army-aligned Humanitarian Aid Commission revealed that the government’s procedures for aid movement included mandatory inspections by Sudanese authorities and soldiers at Chadian warehouses and border crossings.
