West Darfur State expels 4 foreign humanitarian aid officials

Authorities in the state of West Darfur expelled on Sunday four foreigners working in the humanitarian field. Two worked for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), one was the state director for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the other was the director of the International Committee of the Red Cross in West Darfur. Radio Dabanga learnt that members of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) asked a Dutch national to leave the state of West Darfur within 24 hours, without delivering her any written order to do so. The State of West Darfur last week expelled the director of the Red Cross in Zalingei.These expulsions follow a public announcement by President Bashir that the governors of the states of Darfur have been delegated authority to expel foreign organizations that overstep their mandate. Eleven international non-governmental organizations were expelled in March 2009 for alleged collaboration with the International Criminal Court, which is seeking to arrest the Sudanese president. More recently, two staff of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) were expelled on 17 July.

Photo: UN vehicles at Abu Shouk Camp in North Darfur, 11 Sept 2009 (by the Office of the US Special Envoy to Sudan, used under Creative Commons License via Flickr)