Abéché, June 17 (Darfur24)
Sudan’s consul general in Abéché, Gaddafi Abdullah, has accused the Sudanese embassy in N’Djamena of playing a role in the closure of the Sudanese consulate in eastern Chad and the decision to declare him and his staff persona non grata, insisting that the procedures followed to bring a Sudanese passport and civil registry team into the country were legal.
Last week, informed sources told Darfur24 that Chadian authorities closed the Sudanese consulate in Abéché after the consul arranged for a civil registry and passport mission to travel from Sudan without formally notifying the relevant Chadian authorities of the team’s mandate to issue identification documents for Sudanese refugees.
Speaking to Darfur24 through an intermediary, Gaddafi Abdullah said the consulate had coordinated with Sudan’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to deploy a passport and civil registry team to eastern Chad and had received official approval from both institutions.
He explained that the delegation, headed by Major General Mamoun Mohamed Mustafa, police director of West Darfur State, and accompanied by ten officers, obtained entry visas from the Chadian embassy in Addis Ababa. According to the consul, the members travelled using passports that clearly identified their official positions.
“There was no legal violation in the procedures,” he said.
According to Abdullah, Chadian security authorities questioned the team upon arrival and were informed that its mission was limited to issuing passports and civil registration documents to Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad. He said the delegation was initially permitted to proceed with its work.
The consul said tensions later emerged when the Sudanese embassy in N’Djamena requested that the team begin operations in the Chadian capital before travelling to Abéché. He said the consulate rejected the proposal, prompting him to travel to N’Djamena to discuss the matter.
According to Abdullah, the dispute was eventually referred to Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which supported the consulate’s position that the team should begin its work in Abéché.
He also claimed that the embassy had unsuccessfully sought approval the previous year for a similar passport mission to eastern Chad and that the ministry later approved the request submitted by the consulate instead, contributing to tensions between the two diplomatic missions.
The consul attributed the subsequent detention of the passport team by Chadian authorities, as well as the closure of the consulate and the expulsion of its staff, to disagreements between the consulate and the embassy.
Abdullah further alleged that a previous dispute arose when Chadian authorities inquired about more than 2,000 Sudanese soldiers and officers gathered near the Sudanese embassy in N’Djamena, claiming that the ambassador had denied knowledge of their presence while the consulate later issued them emergency travel documents.
He accused Sudan’s ambassador to Chad, Abdullah, of being directly involved in the events that led to his expulsion, adding that he received formal notification of the Chadian decision through the Sudanese embassy.
The consul acknowledged what he described as a “minor procedural error,” saying he had informed governors in eastern Chad directly about the arrival of the passport team instead of communicating through Chad’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs via diplomatic channels. However, he argued that the issue could have been resolved by the Sudanese embassy.
Abdullah said the consulate had established an online registration platform for Sudanese refugees seeking passports and identification documents, and that more than 8,000 people had registered through the system.
Darfur24 was unable to obtain a response from the Sudanese embassy in N’Djamena regarding the allegations.
Meanwhile, a senior civil registry official from West Darfur previously told Darfur24 that there were concerns about possible irregularities in the deployment of the passport team. The official said such missions are normally coordinated through Sudan’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior, while this deployment appeared to have been initiated directly by the consulate in Abéché.
Relations between Sudan and Chad have remained strained since the outbreak of the Sudanese conflict in April 2023. The Sudanese government has repeatedly accused Chad of supporting the Rapid Support Forces, allegations that Chadian authorities have denied.