The United Nations humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, and the Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, on Thursday welcomed the news that the crucial Adre crossing between eastern Chad and the western region of Darfur in Sudan will remain open for the movement of humanitarian personnel and life-saving supplies. Since its reopening eight months ago, the Adre crossing has been a vital lifeline for millions of people in dire need in the region.
The Adre crossing is the most direct and efficient route for humanitarian aid to reach millions of people in Darfur and parts of Kordofan. Since last August, nearly 1,600 trucks carrying 52,500 metric tons of humanitarian aid have entered Sudan through Adre, bringing life-saving assistance to some 2.3 million people. Nearly three-quarters of these supplies have been emergency food and livelihood assistance, with the remainder supporting health, nutrition, shelter, water, sanitation and education services.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stressed on Thursday that the extension was essential to maintain and expand this lifeline. Earlier this week, the office said in a report that the Adre crossing must remain open on a permanent basis to allow the continued flow of life-saving humanitarian aid into Sudan on the scale required.
According to OCHA, Adre provides an indispensable alternative to the Tine border crossing from Chad into Sudan. While Tine remains open, conflict, criminal activity and physical barriers along the route in Darfur continue to pose significant access challenges for humanitarian operations.
With the onset of the rainy season, heavy rains and flooding are further compromising the viability of this route, rendering it largely impassable. The Tine corridor also poses serious risks to civilians fleeing violence in Sudan and attempting to reach safety in Chad.
Many newly arrived refugees have reportedly faced extortion and acts of violence along the way. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Tine is currently receiving the largest influx of refugees from Sudan into Chad, with nearly 20,000 people arriving in Wadi Fira province in just two weeks.
Humanitarian agencies say many more are either en route or waiting at the border in urgent need of assistance.
Chad already hosts 1.3 million refugees, including 818,000 who have arrived from Sudan since the war began more than two years ago. Hundreds of thousands of others, including many returnees, have also entered Chad since the war began in 2023.
Meanwhile, bureaucratic obstacles continue to hamper aid operations in Sudan, while the ongoing conflict poses serious risks to humanitarian workers. This includes North Darfur State, where heavy shelling in the town of El Fasher on Wednesday reportedly damaged a non-governmental organization (NGO) compound.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said artillery fire in the town earlier this week destroyed a water truck the agency was supporting at the Saudi Hospital compound. The truck had been delivering safe water to some 1,000 critically ill patients, whose care has now been disrupted.
OCHA reiterated that attacks on civilians, humanitarian assets and medical facilities must stop and reminded all parties to the conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law.
The United Nations on Thursday said it remains alarmed by the continued deterioration of the security situation in the El Fasher region and the wider North Darfur State.
Escalating violence in North Darfur, particularly in and around the town of El Fasher, has led to mass displacement in recent weeks. In early April, large-scale atrocities involving hundreds of civilian deaths and the displacement of at least 400,000 were reported from the Zamzam displacement camp.
Zamzam was Sudan's largest camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), hosting more than 500,000 women, children and men before the recent attacks, and was one of three displacement sites in the El Fasher region where famine conditions have been found.
An estimated 400,000-500,000 people have fled Zamzam, seeking safety and shelter in El Fasher and the towns of Tawila and Dar As Salam, with reports of displaced people arriving in other parts of the Darfur region and neighboring Chad.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians in El Fasher, Tawila and other parts of North Darfur face an increasingly dire humanitarian situation. Weeks after the massive ground offensive by the Rapid Support Forces on Zamzam camp, reports of intensified fighting in the region continue, and more displaced people are arriving in Tawila.
Renewed clashes have displaced at least 1,700 people this week, with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reporting that most are fleeing to already overburdened areas such as Tawila, where the UN and its partners on the ground are scaling up support for new arrivals. The new displacement is in addition to the 2,000 people who fled Abu Shouk camp and El Fasher last week.
“Despite insecurity and access constraints, we, along with our partners, are doing everything possible to reach people in these areas with life-saving support,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq, briefing journalists at UN Headquarters in New York.
A UN World Food Programme (WFP) convoy carrying food and nutritional supplies for nearly 100,000 people in El Fasher left Dabbah in Northern State on Wednesday.
"The convoy is traveling more than 1,000 kilometers to deliver critical aid to people who have been facing famine for nearly a year. More convoys are planned, but safe humanitarian access is essential," Haq said.
OCHA reiterated its call for unhindered humanitarian access - through all necessary routes, across borders and conflict lines - as well as the protection of civilians and an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Meanwhile, humanitarian needs continue to grow amid ongoing conflict and displacement in several other regions of Sudan.
IOM reported earlier this week that more than 36,000 people have been displaced from Al Khiwai and An Nuhud in West Kordofan due to heightened insecurity. Many were already internally displaced and are now forced to flee for a second time, seeking shelter in locations across West and North Kordofan.
The conflict has also escalated in the east of the country since early May, with repeated drone strikes in Port Sudan damaging critical infrastructure and displacing growing numbers of people. IOM reports that more than 2,600 people have fled since last week, bringing the total number of new displacements reported in the city this month to more than 3,000.
Port Sudan is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan and has become the UN's humanitarian hub for coordinating relief efforts across the country.
On April 15, 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a brutal war that has caused an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. More than 30 million people, including more than 16 million children, are in need of urgent assistance in the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
As a result of the war, Sudan is facing the largest hunger crisis in the world. Across the country, some 25 million people - half the population - are facing acute hunger. Nearly 5 million children and lactating mothers are acutely malnourished. Sudan is the only place in the world where famine has been confirmed in multiple areas, and famine continues to spread.
Sudan is also the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 13 million people forced to flee their homes since the war began in April 2023, including more than 4 million who have crossed into neighboring countries. The ongoing conflict has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives.