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March 9, 2009

Sudan Threatens to Kick Out More Foreign Aid Groups
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The Sudanese government is threatening to kick out more foreign aid
groups and expel diplomats and peacekeepers days after the International
Criminal Court ordered the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir for committing war crimes. Sudan has already expelled thirteen
of the largest aid groups operating in Darfur. Ann Veneman of UNICEF
condemned the Sudanese government.

Ann Veneman: “There are millions of people in Darfur who are dependent
upon humanitarian assistance for food, for healthcare, for vaccinations,
for education. And the real concern is, is how to fill a gap when so
many of the organizations, probably amounting to a couple of thousand or
more people, have had their licenses revoked.”

Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem
accused the aid groups of trying to destabilize Sudan.

Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem: “You should not question the wisdom of our
government in doing so. It did not do that haphazardly. We have been
working with these organizations for a long time, and we have warned
them. We have alerted them not to continue in this path of
destabilization, but they chose to continue that. Not only that, they
are doing activities and policies incompatible with their humanitarian
mandate. They are messing up everything, as far as stability and
security of the respective states in Darfur are concerned.”



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