Sudan temporarily suspends 52 local NGOs in Darfur
March 22, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has temporarily suspended 52 local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in South Darfur state after an investigation found they did not comply with regulations, an official said on Thursday.
But Jamal Youssef Idriss, from the government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) in Nyala, said they had not been expelled from Darfur adding that he planned to convene meetings with all the NGOs to discuss resumption of operations.
“Some of these NGOs are only present in name — they don’t have offices, no vehicles they have nothing just their bags and papers and a stamp,” he told Reuters.
He said of the 100 Sudanese NGOs registered in South Darfur state, an investigation committee found that 48 complied with regulations but 52 did not. But, he said, only a few of those were likely to be “ghost agencies”.
“Many may be allowed to return (to work). There is no final decision to expel anyone yet,” he added. “We stopped them only for a few days.”
The investigation aimed to prevent fraud by Sudanese NGOs taking U.N. and international aid agency contracts and money and not implementing anything, he said.
Darfur has the world’s largest humanitarian operation with around 14,000 aid workers, most of whom are Sudanese working for international NGOs.
Experts estimate 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in four years of conflict in Darfur, violence Washington called genocide.
Khartoum denies genocide, a term European governments are also reluctant to use. The International Criminal Court says it has evidence of war crimes in Darfur. Khartoum says the ICC has no jurisdiction in Sudan.
Idriss stressed international aid agencies had freedom of movement and were allowed to work without issue.
International NGOs dispute that. Despite agreements guaranteeing freedom of movement, speedy visas and fast-track customs for equipment, they say they are buried under bureaucracy and made to wait weeks for travel permits or assets.
The new U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes began his first trip on Thursday in Sudan where he will travel to south Sudan and Darfur before moving to neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic.
He has expressed fears that the space for humanitarian operations to work in Darfur is diminishing.
(Reuters)