Sudan says Oxfam head must leave because of visa
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Sudan ordered on Tuesday the country head of British charity Oxfam to leave “as soon as possible” for violating visa regulations, a week after threatening to expel him in a separate dispute.
Humanitarian Assistance Minister Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid said Oxfam director Shaun Skelton had a visa only for Darfur but was working in Khartoum and so had to leave the country.
“They (country directors) have specific immigration requirements, which the head of Oxfam has failed in,” the under-secretary for humanitarian affairs Abdel Rahman Abu Doam told a news conference.
“The fast-track visa is for entry to Darfur, to undertake work in Darfur. It does not allow you to work in Khartoum, especially for the head of an organisation,” he said.
An Oxfam spokesman declined to comment on the announcement.
On Nov. 29 Sudan ordered the expulsion of the country heads of Oxfam and Save the Children UK but postponed the decision citing administrative difficulties and humanitarian concerns.
Hamid said the expulsion order had been suspended but could be implemented in the future.
Sudan had accused the two organisations of dealing in political affairs, which broke the law, and of making statements it said indicated their support for rebels who launched an uprising against the government early last year.
WORSENING SITUATION
The United Nations says the conflict in Darfur has created the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
Oxfam works mostly in sanitation, water provision and hygiene in Darfur but also operates throughout Sudan.
Hamid said Skelton was free to apply to return. “It will be looked into according to the regulations,” he said.
Sudanese officials said it was not clear if other Oxfam staff were also at risk for violating visa regulations.
After years of tribal clashes over diminishing land and water resources in arid Darfur, rebels took up arms early last year accusing Khartoum of neglect and of arming Arab militia, known as the Janjaweed, to loot and burn non-Arab villages.
The World Health Organisation estimates more than 70,000 people have died since March from malnutrition and disease.
In its first detailed reaction to the figures released in October, Hamid said the WHO figures were incorrect and the organisation should publicly withdraw them.
“We think that WHO is not right and they have to be transparent and they have to say ‘our survey was not right’,” the minister said.