From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sat Jan 23 2010 - 16:37:38 EST
Sudan revokes licenses of 26 aid groups in Darfur, warns dozen others
Friday 22 January 2010.
January 21, 2010 (KHARTOUM) –The Sudanese government announced today that it
has revoked the licenses of 26 relief groups operating in Darfur while
warning 13 others that they must conform to the country’s laws within 30
days or face the same fate.
Sudan official news agency (SUNA) carried a decree by the government’s
registrar for the of Voluntary and Charitable Organizations Ahmed Mohamed
Adam saying that the decision was taken in line with the laws governing the
work of aid groups in addition to agreements between the government of Sudan
and these organizations.
The determination also came upon a review of the reports submitted by the
assessment teams of the specialized technical departments of the
Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), the decree said.
The following groups have their licenses cancelled according to the decree;
1- Prospect Sudan 2- Counterpart International 3- Feed the Children 4- Food
for the Hungry 5- Safe Harbor 6- The Halo Trust 7- Right to Play 8- Air
Serve 9- Mercy International 10- Global Peace Mission 11- Population Media
Centre 12- Sudanese International Development and Relief Association (SIDRA)
13- Royal Dutch Aid 14- Canadian Association for African Development 15-
SPEG- Holland 16- Norwegian League for Disabled 17- African Association for
Development 18- Health Assistance for Children (HAFC) 19- Nabata Charitable
Foundation 20- Impact 21- Cins- Italy 22- Ulfa Aid 23- Joint Projects
Organization 24- Arabic Centre for Immigrant Labors 25- Tomp/Germany 26-
Human Relief and Peace.
According to Adam, the abovementioned groups “have not carried out any
activities” and failed to renew their annual permits or submit required
reports.
The second set of organizations received an unspecified warning to adjust
status in accordance with the law but no details were furnished. They
include Stromme Foundation 2. Veterinaraires Sans Forntieres- Germany 3.
Planned Parenthood 4. (International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry
Area(ICARDA 5. Deniz Feneri 6. International Blue Crescent Relief 7.
Handicap International 8. (Education Action International (Former was
University Services Org 9. Movimondo 10. Sudanese Mothers for Peace 11.
Panos Sudan 12. Eritrean Islamic Relief 13. One Earth.
In a related development a study made by Belgian scientists published in The
Lancet medical journal said that the overwhelming majority of deaths in
Darfur can be attributed to diseases such as diarrhea.
According to Reuters, the researchers said their results showed that any
reduction in humanitarian aid can cause deaths rates to increase sharply.
Last year, the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir ordered more than a
dozen aid groups out of Darfur after his indictment by the International
Criminal Court (ICC).
“Adequate humanitarian assistance to prevent and treat these potentially
fatal diseases is essential," Degomme and Guha-Sapir wrote. "The full effect
of the expulsion of non-governmental organizations from Darfur is still not
known, but the increased mortality rate during a period of reduced
humanitarian deployment in 2006 suggests that we should fear the worst”.
"More than 80 percent of excess deaths were not a result of the violence,"
said Olivier Degomme and Debarati Guha-Sapir of the Center for Research on
the Epidemiology of disasters in Brussels.
They said a violent peak in early 2004 was followed by "protracted phase of
increased disease-related" deaths caused by people living in conditions of
unsanitary conditions with little or no healthcare infrastructure.
The United Nations experts say at least 300,000 people have died from the
combined effects of war, famine and disease in Darfur, and that some 2.7
million are displaced by the seven year conflict.
(ST)
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