Sudan expels charities as war crime case unfolds

Sudanese people shout slogans against the International Criminal Court arrest warrant during a rally in Khartoum. Photo / AP

UNITED NATIONS - Sudan has ordered the expulsion of six to 10 humanitarian groups from Darfur and seized assets after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against the country's president for war crimes, a UN spokeswoman said.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the action "represents a serious setback to lifesaving operations in Darfur" and is urging the government to act immediately to restore the aid organisations to "full operational status," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

Okabe identified three of the non-governmental organisations affected as Oxfam, Solidarities and Mercy Corps. Save the Children UK and the Dutch section of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said they were also ordered to leave.

The decision coincided with the arrest warrant issued Wednesday by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Okabe said the NGOs were informed on Wednesday by the Sudanese government's Humanitarian Aid Commission that their legal registrations have been revoked and that they were given a list of assets for seizure and told that they must immediately leave north Sudan, which includes Darfur.

She said the United Nations was notified that officials from the Sudanese commission insisted on accompanying some NGO staff members into their offices and taking lists of assets and staff.

"Affected NGOs are the main providers of life-saving humanitarian services, such as water, food, health and sanitation," Okabe said, and their departure will have "an immediate and serious" impact on the humanitarian and security situation in north Sudan, especially in Darfur.

The war in Darfur began in 2003 when rebel groups took up arms against the government complaining of discrimination and neglect. UN officials say up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes. Many are in camps for the displaced that NGOs help run.

Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's International Director, said in London that the Sudanese government had revoked its license to operate in northern Sudan.

"If Oxfam's registration is revoked, it will affect more than 600,000 Sudanese people whom we provide with vital humanitarian and development aid, including clean water and sanitation on a daily basis," including 400,000 people affected by the continuing violence in Darfur, she said

Oxfam GB has 450 staff members in the country, 90 per cent of whom are Sudanese. It said in a statement that it is appealing the order.

The charity, which has worked in Sudan since 1983, moved to distance itself from the International Criminal Court, saying that it is an independent, non-governmental organisation which has no links or opinion on the tribunal's activities and is focused only on "meeting humanitarian and development needs in Sudan."

Save the Children UK said it has about 40 staff members in the country, helping about 50,000 children affected by the Darfur conflict.

"These are some of Sudan's most vulnerable children," said Ken Caldwell, the charity's director of international operations. "Save the Children UK is providing essential support to these children and their families, helping to protect them from abuse, get them access to clean water and get them back into school."

"We don't know what the outcome of these developments will be, but we do know that if we are forced to stop our work the lives of thousands of children could be at risk," Caldwell said.

Vanessa Van Schoor, Sudan operations manager for MSF Holland, said that several days ago the group was told "to pull out of our field projects."

"Today we've been expelled," she said. "We haven't got any clear idea why."

Van Schoor said patients at MSF clinics in the central Darfur area of Jebel Marra had to be left, while in the Kalma camp near the town of Nyala, people urgently need vaccination to stem an outbreak of meningitis.

The expulsion only applies to the Dutch section of MSF which had 27 international staff and around 520 national staff in Sudan, she said.

-AP