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March 17, 2009

Sudan Calls for All Foreign Aid Groups to Leave Within a Year
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Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir said Monday he wants all foreign aid
groups to leave Sudan within a year. Al-Bashir accused the aid groups of
providing false testimony against him and his government. The move comes
less than two weeks after the International Criminal Court issued an
arrest warrant for al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region. John Holmes, the UN Emergency Relief
Coordinator, said the aid groups need to stay in Sudan.

John Holmes: “If all the agencies were required to leave and not be able
to operate, that would, we believe, have enormous ramifications for the
welfare of people in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan. The government of
South Sudan, for example, have made clear that they welcome
international NGOs continuing to work in the south and indeed in the
border areas. So it would have a very significant impact if it was
carried out in quite the way in which that statement appears to suggest.
As I say, we’ve only seen media reports of that, and we’ve had no
clarification about what it’s supposed to mean.”



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