Sudan warns expelled aid groups against attempting to re-enter

June 25, 2013, (JUBA) – The Sudanese ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has warned foreign aid groups that were expelled from the country against attempting to enter areas in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states without Khartoum’s permission.

The NCP’s secretary of organizations, Adil Awad Salman said in press statements on Tuesday that some organizations which had previously worked in Sudan and were booted out due to violating government’s policies are currently trying to sneak into the two states which are the scene of fighting between the army and rebels.

He claimed that these groups are seeking entrance through political bodies and people with connections to rebels in order to collect information on the humanitarian situation in Sudan and fabricate reports with the help of world powers and organizations such as Amnesty International and Transparency International.

Salman added that those reports will be used to place more pressure on Sudan and its foreign policy and said that they will not tolerate violating Sudan’s political and legal sovereignty, describing it as “red line”.

The NCP official revealed a new strategy for civil society organizations that is in line with the government’s policies regarding human rights work in Sudan and underscores permanently banning any groups which support rebels from entering the country.

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

Since then, the activities of foreign aid group in Darfur are strictly controlled and more organizations were evicted through the years.

Sudan refuses to allow new aid groups to work in the region.

The government also banned the access of foreign groups to the rebel-held areas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile as well as the establishment of camps for the displaced civilians, stressing the experience of Darfur camps should not be repeated in the two states.

(ST)