Sudan extends U.N. access at Adre border crossing

As the Sudanese authorities extend a three-month approval given to the U.N. and aid groups to use the Adre border crossing with Chad to reach Darfur, WFP aid trucks continue to move through the Adre border crossing carrying aid to Darfur and other famine-stricken parts of Sudan.

WFP said an aid convoy has crossed from Port Sudan via new routes to reach Zamzam camp in Darfur. Footage shared by WFP showed aid trucks moving from Suakin city in the northeastern side of the country.

Sudan's sovereign council said it would extend the use of the Adre border crossing with Chad, seen as essential by aid agencies for the delivery of food and other supplies to areas at risk of famine in the Darfur and Kordofan regions.

Experts determined earlier this year that while more than 25 million people across the country face acute hunger, several parts of the country are at increased risk of famine, and that one camp in the Darfur region was already in its throes, the consequence of war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Adre, which was closed by an order from the army-controlled government in February, was reopened for three months in August until November 15, and it had not been clear whether that period would be extended.

Members of the government have protested against the opening, saying it allows for the RSF to deliver weapons. However, the Sudanese army is not in physical control of the border crossing which lies within territory seized last year by the RSF, which controls most of Darfur.

The United Nations welcomed the decision to keep Adre open for another three months.

More than 300 aid trucks with supplies for more than 1.3 million people have since crossed into Sudan through Adre, according to UN humanitarian coordination official Ramesh Rajasingham in a briefing to the Security Council.