Bashir threatens to expel foreigners amid tension over Darfur camp suspects

President Al Bashir has issued a stern warning against foreign organizations that disrespect the government. The comments by Bashir mark a deepening of the confrontation between the government and the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) over six Darfuris in Kalma Camp whom the peacekeepers refuse to hand over to Khartoum.Bashir told a gathering of Darfuri leaders in Khartoum on Saturday that if any aid group or United Nations agency or the African Union or even the peacekeeping mission itself step beyond their authority, it can be expelled on the same day. Bashir has reportedly delegated authority to the governors of the three states of Darfur to expel foreign organizations at their discretion. The threat is reminiscent of the expulsions of March 2009, when the government expelled 13 foreign aid groups after the Sudanese leader’s indictment by an international court for war crimes.

Sudan has accused six people of inciting clashes in Kalma camp in South Darfur in late July, killing at least five people. The five men and one woman wanted by the authorities are reportedly either members or supporters of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army in Darfur. They have sought refuge with the peacekeepers, which refused to surrender them to Sudan without guarantee of a fair trial for them. The recent clashes among the residents in Kalma caused many to flee the area or seek shelter at the UNAMID Community Policing Centre outside the camp.

The Sudanese president said that no one has the right to prevent the government from carrying out its mission to protect civilians and refugee camps in Darfur, which are in Sudanese territory under the authority of Sudan. He said no one in the world has the power to prevent the government from prosecuting criminals who violate the law. Using harsh language against UNAMID, he accused them of preventing the government from performing its duties and exercising its authority in the camps in Darfur.

On the day following this speech, Sunday, the civilian leader of UNAMID, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, went to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to meet with the junior minister, Dr. Mutrif Siddiq, to discuss the situation in Kalma camp. Gambari is under instructions from UN Headquarters in New York not to hand over the wanted men and woman unless the government presents the peacekeepers with an arrest warrant based on criminal charges, among other conditions, the Sudan Tribune reported on Friday.

UNAMID disclosed in a statement that Gambari tried to persuade the minister that the Kalma issue should not damage their relationship: “while the issue of the six persons who sought refuge in the UNAMID Community Policing Center in Kalma was both serious and delicate, it should not be allowed to create an unnecessary breakdown in communications or mar the existing cordial relations between the Government of the Sudan (GoS) and the African Union – United Nations in Darfur.”

Gambari had met with other government officials last Thursday; that meeting resulted in an agreement to form a joint committee to deal with all issues surrounding the events in Kalma.

Kalma camp, located near Nyala, in South Darfur, is home to about 100.000 people from Darfur who fled their homes during the rape, murder and looting by the militias in Sudan’s remote west. There has been no Sudanese government presence in Kalma for years because of the population’s hostility toward the government. The peacekeeping forces in Darfur were asked by the Security Council of the United Nations last week to focus on protection of civilians. The United Nations also stated recently that the government has prevented international aid agencies from accessing the camp.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of committing war crimes during the conflict seven years ago in Darfur. The ICC Prosecutor has urged countries to cooperate in bringing him to trial. In his remarks Saturday, Bashir disclosed that he had received advice not to travel to Ndjamena in Chad, where he visited last month because allegedly French troops stationed at the airport were preparing a trap to arrest him. He traveled there anyway, thanks to assurances of his safety from Chadian President Idriss Deby, and returned back to Khartoum apparently without issue.