Sudan’s president accuses foreign relief organizations in the country of espionage, necessitating their departure in the space of a year.
“We need to clear our country of any spies,” President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told his supporters in the capital, Khartoum on Monday, Al-Jazeera reported.
“Within a year, we don’t want to see any foreign aid group dealing with a Sudanese citizen,” he added.
“If they want to bring relief, let them drop it at airports or seaports. Let the national organizations deal with our citizens.”
Khartoum has already invalidated the work permit of 13 non-governmental organizations including the British relief group Oxfam.
The president claims that the alleged espionage activities are on orders of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
ICC earlier this month issued an arrest warrant for Bashir saying that he has directly managed and controlled a campaign of ‘murder and genocide’ in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region where more than 300,000 have been killed.
Bashir has displayed disregard for the warrant attacking the UN Security Council and the International Monetary Fund likewise for trying to recolonize the country and steal its resources.
UN officials say that the expulsion of the non-governmental aid organizations will influence aid delivery to Sudan’s Darfur in upcoming weeks.
“Roughly 50 percent of aid delivery is affected,” Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in Geneva last week.
The expelled groups employed 6,500 aid workers in Darfur, where 4.7 million people rely on foreign assistance for food, shelter, and protection from fighting.
