Sudan expels UNDP country director

December 24, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese authorities gave the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director 72 hours to leave the country, multiple sources told Sudan Tribune.

The reason for the decision was not immediately known and officials at the UN office in Khartoum refused to comment.

Several sources confirmed that the UNDP country director Yvonne Helle sent a farewell e-mail to her staff Wednesday to thanked them for their cooperation during her tenure in Sudan.

Helle assumed her role as UNDP Country Director in Sudan in November of last year.

Sudanese authorities routinely accuse UN agencies working in the country of non-neutrality and seeking to serve the agenda of foreign intelligence agencies and going beyond their mandate. The security apparatus also closely monitors UN workers in Sudan.

Last April, the foreign ministry expelled the head of United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) in Sudan on charge of interfering in the country’s internal affairs.

Immediately after the first arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir in March 2009, Sudan also expelled 13 aid groups from Darfur accusing it of collaborating with the war crime courts.

Since then, the Sudanese government intensified its crackdown on foreign aid agencies.

(ST)