UN announces food trucks ready to move from Chad to Sudan

The United Nations said Friday it was ready to begin delivering food to the war-torn western region of Darfur after the government decided to reopen a key border crossing with Chad.

The months-long closure of the Adre crossing is a major concern for aid agencies struggling to get food and supplies into Darfur as the conflict rages.

The war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army led by the country’s de facto leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

More than 25 million people, more than half the country’s population, are facing severe famine. A state of famine has been declared in a camp for displaced people in Darfur.

The United Nations World Food Programme welcomed the reopening of the Adre crossing and said it was in a race against time to save lives.

“The opening of this crucial humanitarian corridor through Adre will allow us to deliver aid to the conflict-ridden Darfur region where famine was confirmed two weeks ago,” Leni Kinzli, WFP spokesperson in Sudan, told a news conference in Nairobi.

“Vital food and nutritional supplies” will be delivered through the crossing in the coming weeks, she added.

“WFP urgently needs all other border posts into Sudan to be opened,” she said.

She said two convoys containing nearly 6,000 tonnes of food for about 500,000 people were being loaded, bound for famine-threatened areas of Darfur, as soon as government permission was received.

The Tine border post, the only other border crossing between Chad and Sudan, has been largely impassable for nearly a month due to flooding. Thirty WFP trucks have been unable to cross into Darfur.

More than 50 WFP trucks carrying about 4,800 tonnes of food and nutrients are also stranded in different parts of Sudan due to flooding.

Conferences in Switzerland

The decision to open the Adre crossing comes as the United States begins talks in Switzerland aimed at brokering a ceasefire and improving humanitarian access.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are not participating in the talks, which are taking place at an undisclosed location. The meeting is being convened by Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for Sudan.

“The opening of the Adre border crossing is an important achievement at a crucial time for humanitarian efforts to provide assistance to those most in need and prevent further famine,” he said on the X social media platform.

“We continue our efforts to save Sudanese lives and silence the guns. The RSF remains here ready to enter into negotiations; the SAF must decide to come.”

Kinzli said about 755,000 people were facing catastrophic hunger, with no other options and surviving on grass and leaves.

“It is essential that warring parties get off the battlefield and come to the negotiating table so that we can get food to hungry communities across the country in time, before it is too late,” she said.