Sudan Opens Chad Border for Aid to Darfur

Sudan's sovereign council said it would allow the use of the Adre border crossing with Chad for three months - a move long waited by aid agencies seeking to send aid into areas of the Darfur region that are threatened with famine.

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.

The army-aligned government blocked aid deliveries in February through the Adre crossing into territory controlled by the RSF, alleging that it was being used for weapons deliveries.

Othman Khojali, deputy head of Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commision, said that calls for a Security Council decision to disregard the prohibition on Adre were part of a "political agenda" to violate its sovereignty and allow "anything" into the country.

The Sovereign Council's decision appeared timed to pre-empt such calls, particularly during talks in Switzerland that aim to end the war and facilitate humanitarian aid, which the army is not attending.

Discussions began a day before, however the military's absence from negotiations dampened hopes for imminent steps to alleviate the country's humanitarian crisis.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces sent a delegation to the talks, but direct mediation will be impossible without the army present, U.S. special envoy Tom Perriello said this week.

Instead, participants including Egypt, the UAE, the United Nations, African Union, East African body IGAD and experts would consult on roadmaps for a cessation of violence and carrying out humanitarian aid deliveries.

Mediators say both sides disregarded that accord.

The RSF has denied many accounts of fighters attacking civilians and looting.