Darfur mediator criticizes Sudan’s expulsion of aid groups, calls for IDPs compensation

March 22, 2009 (PARIS) — The joint chief mediator for Darfur peace talks expressed his regret for the expulsion of foreign aid workers from Sudan and urged the Sudanese government to repatriate the internally displaced persons to their villages and homelands.

“The Sudanese government decision to expel more than 13 non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance to the IDPs would make difficult the current situation there, and we regret that” Djibril Bassolé told Sudan Tribune.

In a gesture of defiance, the Sudanese government hours after an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 4, ordered out some 16 aid groups aiding some 2.7 million people in strife-torn Darfur.

Khartoum since rejected all the appeals to reverse its decision accusing the NGOs of cooperating with the ICC. Further, the Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir spoke last week about the sudanization of the humanitarian activities and the departure of all foreign groups by the end of the year.

Most UN Security Council (UNSC) members criticized the move by Sudan during a briefing by Rashid Kalikow, Director of the New York section of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in which he called on Khartoum to honor its agreements and its own laws.

The rebel Justice and Equality Movement which signed a goodwill agreement with Khartoum, suspended its participation in a peace process launched last February by the Joint mediator and the Qatari government in Doha.

The chief mediator who was on his way to New York to brief the UN Security Council next week on the peace process told Sudan Tribune in Paris that “maintaining the displaced population in the camps under these conditions it not the best solution.”

Bassolé further appealed to the Sudanese government to work swiftly for the return of the IDPs in their homeland and pay individual compensation for them. He underscored that all the parties of the conflict agree on this point.

“We have to go very fast in this matter because all the stakeholders agree on this humanitarian issue. The government has to pay the individual compensations for the IDPs and encourage their return in the honor and in good conditions,” he said.

The Sudanese government held a large national consultation, Sudan’s People Forum, in November last year on the ways to end the six year conflict in western Sudan. The government agreed accordingly to compensate the IDPs and create the necessary conditions for their return.

Also, an important rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur makes the return of the IDPs to their villages and homeland one of its major conditions to set on the negotiating table with the Sudanese government.

Bassolé said he would work in this direction n the coming period.

According to the UN estimations there are some 2.7 displaced persons in Darfur as result of anti-insurgency campaign launched by the Sudanese government and its militia against the rebel groups in the region since 2003.

(ST)