- The International Rescue Committee, a U.S. aid agency, has denied reports it was expelled from northeastern Sudan by Khartoum, saying on Wednesday it had temporarily pulled out at the request of the United Nations amid talks over access routes.
Eastern Front rebels who control the area had said on Monday the group had been ordered by the Sudanese government to suspend its operations, creating a &${esc.hash}39;humanitarian disaster&${esc.hash}39; for 45,000 people who benefit from IRC programmes.
But the IRC said the U.N. Mission in Sudan had asked it to temporarily halt its programmes because of negotiations they hoped would lead to new access routes through Sudan. The only existing humanitarian route to the area is through Eritrea
&${esc.hash}39;We were not expelled,&${esc.hash}39; Robert Warwick, IRC country director for Eritrea, told AlertNet. &${esc.hash}39;There have been negotiations going on to allow access from the Sudanese side. That would be preferable, it would be easier and we could have joint programmes in Sudan.
&${esc.hash}39;We were advised by the U.N. Mission in Sudan that the presence of NGOs operating from the Eritrean side was complicating the situation and getting access through Sudan would be greatly facilitated by suspending our activities.&${esc.hash}39;
The IRC is one of two international aid groups that provide food and medicine to 45,000 people in the rebel-controlled region.
Warwick said the IRC had withdrawn all of its 25 expatriate and local staff but had left up to four weeks&${esc.hash}39; supplies in operations such as health centres.
&${esc.hash}39;We will be monitoring the situation daily. We do have a long-term commitment to the people there,&${esc.hash}39; he said.
The IRC assists the area&${esc.hash}39;s ethnic Beja population, who live in one of the most under-developed regions in the world. When aid workers first arrived there in 2000, they found a population with rampant epidemics, no existing health structure, and literacy rates of less than 3 percent.
The 2.2 million Beja of eastern Sudan complain they are marginalised and their region is left to poverty and neglect. The Beja Congress began an armed struggle against the Sudanese government in the 1990s. Sudan has accused Eritrea of backing the eastern rebels, which it denies.
Analysts fear eastern Sudan could be the next flashpoint in Africa&${esc.hash}39;s largest country. The other international aid group active in the region, Samaritan&${esc.hash}39;s Purse, remains in operation.
Aid agencies in Sudan complain of harassment by Sudanese authorities which hinders their work. Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s authorities view international aid workers with suspicion and have in the past charged personnel with spying or publishing false information.
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