Sudan expels aid agency in eastern region – rebels
Mar 6, 2006 (ASMARA) — Sudan has expelled one of two international aid groups that provide food and medicine to 45,000 people in the east of the country, Eastern Front rebels who control the affected region said on Monday.
In a written statement to journalists in neighbouring Eritrea, where the Eastern Front is based, the rebel group said it had received formal notice that the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was suspending activities in rebel-controlled areas of eastern Sudan.
The IRC was not immediately reachable for comment.
In a letter shown to journalists by the Eastern Front, the IRC said that Khartoum had ordered the organisation to suspend its humanitarian activities in the region.
“This sudden move creates a humanitarian disaster for the 45,000 people directly benefiting from the health, education, veterinary, water and local-capacity building programmes of IRC,” the rebel statement said.
No reason was given for the explusion and officials at Sudan’s Humanitarian Affairs Ministry declined to comment.
Like rebel groups in Sudan’s western Darfur region, the Eastern Front complain of neglect and marginalisation by the government. Analysts fear eastern Sudan could be the next flashpoint in Africa’s largest country.
The rebel-controlled area of eastern Sudan is one of the most under-developed regions in the world.
When aid workers first arrived there in 2000, they found a population with rampant epidemics, no existing health structure, and literacy rates of less than 3 percent.
The IRC is one of two international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) providing humanitarian relief to the Beja population inside the rebel-controlled region, just across the border from Eritrea.
The other group, Samaritan’s Purse, remains in operation.
Asmat Ali, a humanitarian official for the Eastern Front, criticised the IRC for giving into government pressure.
“The danger is that the government will be encouraged by the behaviour of IRC and will put pressure on other NGOs too,” he said.
Aid agencies in Sudan complain of harassment by Sudanese authorities which hinders their work. Sudan’s authorities view international aid workers with suspicion and have in the past charged personnel with spying or publishing false information.
(Reuters)