Humanitarian aid resumes in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur after 6-month border closure

Food deliveries have resumed to Sudan’s famine-threatened Darfur region following the reopening of a key border crossing by Sudanese authorities after a six-month closure, as civil war rages in the country.

The United Nations food agency said in a statement on Wednesday that the first convoy of trucks laden with essential food supplies has arrived in Darfur from neighboring Chad through the reopened Adre border.

The supplies are intended for 13,000 people in Kereneik in Darfur, who are at imminent risk of famine, the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

“WFP has food and nutrition supplies for around 500,000 people ready to move swiftly through the newly re-opened route,” the WFP statement added.

More than 10 million people have fled their homes and at least 18,000 others have been killed since civil war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Over half the country’s population now faces acute hunger, it reported in a statement last month.

The Adre crossing, offering the most direct and efficient route for delivering aid to Darfur from Chad, enables trucks to reach key distribution points within a day.

During the border’s closure, WFP said it managed to send only two convoys via Adre, relying instead on longer, more dangerous routes that often navigated conflict zones controlled by various militia groups.

Last week, the Sudanese government agreed to open key border crossings for humanitarian aid amid international pressure.

Sudan’s Sovereign Council announced that it would open the Adre crossing on the country’s border with Chad for three months after it was closed in February by the Sudanese army, which alleged that the crossing was being used to move weapons.

According to the UN OCHA, 26 million people in Sudan need assistance — more than half of the country’s population.