Foreign pressure fails to reverse aid expulsion order from Sudan

March 6, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – A mounting foreign diplomatic effort has thus far proven ineffective to convince Khartoum to reverse an expulsion order made Wednesday against some of the aid agencies operating in Darfur or other areas of North Sudan.

As Western diplomats made grave appeals on behalf of the 13 ousted aid groups, Sudan’s president lambasted Western nations in public rallies while his ambassador in New York called the issue a “storm in a teacup.”

In response to a call Friday from the top US diplomat at the United Nations, the Sudanese Ambassador Abdel Mahmood Abdel Haleem Mohamad responded that threats and escalation are in the interest of nobody. He blamed the expelled aid groups for “giving information and fabricating stories with the ICC.”

Susan Rice, the US representative to the UN, described the conversation with the ambassador as “forceful” and she remarked to reporters that “the Government of Sudan, at its own choosing, is now heading down a path towards even greater international isolation.”

No consensus was reached on the matter in the UN Security Council, which on Friday afternoon was briefed by Catherine Bragg, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator. Speaking at a press briefing during the session, the Permanent Representative of France, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said he had “little hope” that the Council would act on the issue.
According to the British Permanent Representative John Sawers, the council failed to agree on even a non-binding statement proposed by France.

In Khartoum, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Mutrif Siddiq received Charge d’Affaires Alberto Fernandez, the top US diplomat in the country, in order to discuss the NGOs. Fernandez also met with and has talked with Foreign Minister Deng Alor and others, but a State Department spokesperson did not mention any outcome from the meetings.

More activity occurred in Washington as the State Department sought to rally regional countries against the expulsion move. Since the expulsion order, the Acting Assistant-Secretary for African Affairs, Phillip Carter, has met with the Sudanese Charge d’Affaires Akec Khoc Acieu, the Chinese Charge d’Affaires and the Ambassador of Qatar.

Aided in these efforts by Tim Shortley, the State Department’s senior representative for Sudan, Carter has also spoken with UN-African Union Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole. Today the Assistant Secretary also met with an Egyptian delegation.

The issue will reach the highest level next week when President Barack Obama meets with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the White House during the latter’s stay in Washington from Tuesday to Wednesday.

An aid official for Oxfam said that it will probably be impossible for the United Nations and the remaining aid groups to fill the void left by the evacuating workers.

Roughly 6,500 national and international personnel, which equates to 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur, are departing in the wake of the Sudan government’s decision, according to the United Nations.

(ST)