On April 16, a Chadian helicopter with at least three people aboard crashed in Adre, a town abutting the border with Sudan in the desert region shared by the two countries. One person died in the crash, while two were injured. The incident was an unwelcome reminder of five years of conflict between the two impoverished nations -- even as that conflict finally shows signs of winding down.
On April 17, the two countries re-opened their official border crossings. "Sudanese taxis are going back and forth and so are the people," a government official in Adre told AFP.
Until a dramatic thawing in tensions that began this winter, Chad accused Sudan of harboring rebels aiming to bring down the government in N'Djamena. Likewise, Sudan accused Chad of aiding insurgents targeting Khartoum. Both sides relied heavily on helicopters to pursue rebel groups in the expansive desert border region, helicopters those rebels have sought to shoot down to register their resistance.