Nuba Mountains authorities decry loss of aid due to expulsion
April 6, 2009 (KAUDA) – Authorities in the Nuba Mountains representing the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement complained against the expulsion of aid groups from Northern Sudan, calling it a breach of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
The SPLM leaders from the militarized region said the aid expulsion was “a political reaction with no consideration to the humanitarian needs of the areas affected by war.”
A humanitarian assessment mission has completed its report on Darfur, and another is now visiting other areas of Northern Sudan affected by the expulsion, including Nuba Mountains. Six organizations expelled from the area are Save the Children-USA, Mercy Corps, PAEDCO, Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE, and International Rescue Committee.
In a document presented yesterday to the Joint Assessment team formed by the UN, Government of Sudan, and Southern Kordofan State government, the SPLM leaders called the move a breach of the CPA caused because “the National Congress Party did not consult its partner in government (SPLM) which will contribute more to lack of trust between the two.”
According to the statement issued from Kauda, local markets are hurt by the departure of the aid workers, mortality among women and children has increased due to scarcity of health centers and the absence of ambulance services, and employees of the international NGOs are left without means to provide for their families.
The authorities closely detailed the projects affected by the departure of the aid groups, but they also indicated more vaguely that the expulsion order resulted in the “creation of an environment charged with depression that may lead to conflicts.”
SPLM-Nuba Mountains Region added that the expulsion has “created an environment of disharmony and lack of congruence between the two partners in government that adds to weakening trust building.”
In the wake of the NGOs’ departure, GOSS President Salva Kiir Mayardit offered the humanitarian groups the option of operating from Southern Sudan, a strategy endorsed by the Nuba administrators.
Nuba Mountains witnessed fierce fighting during Sudan’s 22-year civil war; during that period guerrilla administrators sought to provide some services to people in the areas under their control, so to this day a parallel administration exists alongside the state government.
Yesterday the region’s SPLM officials faulted both the government of Southern Kordofan State and that national government for never having allocated a budget for service delivery since the signing of he CPA.
This complaint was cited by the Nuba Mountains authorities as a reason for mistrusting the government-proposed alternative to the ousted aid groups, a scheme to “Sudanize” aid efforts across the country within one year. The authorities questioned the government groups’ “professionalism, financial viability, ethics and their adherence to international humanitarian laws.”
“These alternative organizations have never initiated any projects in the past to serve the area, why now?” asked the SPLM officials.
Sudan government officials have called the expulsion order “irreversible” and accused the ousted groups of illegally passing information to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Nevertheless, Nuba Mountains authorities called on the Humanitarian Aid Commission to “adhere to its ethical principles and do its mandated humanitarian activities without mixing it with politics and to be impartial in its approach.”
(ST)