Expulsion of Humanitarian NGOs from Darfur Continues

On 21st January 2010 the government of Sudan revoked the licenses of 26 organisations including humanitarian relief organisations working in Darfur. On the same occasion the government issued ultimatums to 13 other organisations that they should conform to Sudan’s laws within 30 days or their licenses will be revoked as well. According to the Registrar of Voluntary and Charitable Organisations in Khartoum the decision was taken in line with Sudan’s law governing the work of relief organisations as well as the agreements between the government of Sudan and these organisations. Khartoum said that the organisations “have not carried out any activities” and “failed to renew their annual permits or submit required reports.” The following organisations have their licenses revoked:

(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.

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Participation at upcoming Darfur Civil Society consultations

To: H.E. Djibril Bassole, AU/UN Joint Chief Mediator for Darfur

To: H.E. Ahmed Abdalla Aal Mahmoud, State Minister for Foreign Affairs; State of Qatar

We, the undersigned representatives of Darfur civil society organisations in the Diaspora and refugees camps, highly value your relentless efforts to resolve the armerd conflict and achieve peace for our beleaguered people in Darfur.

The Darfur Civil Society Inaugural conference convened in Doha in November 2009 was a welcome step in the right direction. It would empower Darfur civil society and allow their contribution to a peaceful resolution of the country's crisis including Darfur. In fact, that important gathering comes in fulfilment of UN Security Council Resolution S/RES/1828 (2008) of 31st July 2008 in which the Security Council underlined "... the need for the engagement of civil society, including women and women-led organizations, community groups and tribal leaders " in the peace process in Darfur.

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The report of his Excellency Mr Thabo Mbeki :

"Report of the African Union High Level Panel on Darfur (AUDP)"

I wish to recall that, in line with the decision adopted by the Peace and Security Council (PSC) at its 142nd meeting held on 21 July 2008, calling for the formation of an AU High - Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD), I appointed several eminent african personalities as members of the AUPD. The PSC decision was subsequently endorsed by the 12th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union held from 1 to 3 February 2009.

The AUPD, which is chaired by former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, was mandated to examine the situation in Darfur in-depth and submit recommendations on how best to effectively and comprehensively address the issues of accountability and combating impunity, on the one hand, and peace, headling and reconciliation, on the other. In this context, the AUPD convened its inaugural meeting in Addis Ababa on 18 and 19 March 2009. This inaugural meeting was followed by wide consultations with both the Sudanese and international stakeholders.

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