Rhino: Follow-up – Darfur24 news website reported on Sunday, citing sources at the Sudanese Embassy in N’Djamena and the Consulate in AbaShi, that Chad had closed the consulate and declared the Consul General and his staff persona non grata, demanding that they leave the country.
The sources reported that Chadian authorities closed the consulate in the city of Abéché following a series of violations committed by Consul General Gaddafi Abdullah Mohammed.

They explained that the consul summoned a civil registry mission from Sudan without consulting the Chadian authorities regarding the tasks of the team that arrived to issue passports and identification documents to Sudanese nationals in Chad, as the team members’ visas were limited to visiting the Consulate General, without specifying their official capacity.

Sources stated that the consul took this step because a specialized passport and civil registry team from West Darfur State had withdrawn to the Adré border region in Chad shortly before the outbreak of the war, in addition to other teams from Central and South Darfur States.

They noted that there were disagreements between the consulate and the Sudanese embassy, as the embassy had requested that the civil registry team, upon its arrival, begin issuing documents in N’Djamena before heading to Abashi; however, the consul refused this on the grounds that he was the one who had summoned the team.
They continued: “Following the consul’s insistence and his trip to N’Djamena, the embassy agreed that the team would begin its work in Abashi and then return to N’Djamena.”

She added: “As the Civil Registry team was preparing to depart from N’Djamena to Abashi, Chadian security authorities intervened and verified the identities of its members, discovering that they were Sudanese police officers who had entered Chadian territory with the aim of obtaining identification documents without the knowledge of the relevant Chadian authorities.”

She continued: “Members of the passport and civil registry team were arrested, including a major general who served as police chief of West Darfur State, as well as other officers who were present in Chad and with whom the team had been in contact following its arrival.”

Accordingly, Chadian authorities issued a decision declaring the consul and consulate staff persona non grata and gave them four days to leave Chadian territory, according to the sources.