A week after Sudan kicked out 13 major foreign aid agencies, the world's biggest humanitarian relief effort has been plunged into chaos as organisations negotiate a nightmare of red tape and intimidation, aid workers say.
The expelled agencies now have to find ways to reallocate tens of millions of dollars budgeted for projects they can no longer run, while those organisations allowed to remain in Sudan say they face a momentous struggle to fill the gaps.
Aid workers say the Sudanese authorities have seized computers, vehicles, medical records and life-saving drugs, meaning they cannot hand them over to relief groups still on the ground. Some agencies say they have had funds frozen as well.
"Everything is crazy. Most of the agencies thrown out don't think they're going to get back so they're trying to work out how to
transfer everything to agencies still in Sudan," said one aid worker who asked to remain anonymous.
"Thousands of local staff in Darfur got made redundant literally overnight, and they've all got families to feed - so we're trying to
find them new jobs.
"We're also all going to have to transfer funding to agencies still there. Donors are going to have to be very flexible. And we're trying to do this without any of the in-country records, because all our computers got seized - so project budgets, staffing, everything is lost. It's completely overwhelming."
Aid agencies contacted by AlertNet said there was a lot of confusion with the Sudanese authorities telling each of them different things.
One immediate headache for the expelled groups is how to pay local staff who have lost their jobs. Getting vast sums into Sudan and
transporting money around will be one problem. Another will be locating former employees, who may have gone to ground out of fears for their safety.
The expelled groups employed 6,500 people in Darfur alone, the vast majority of them Sudanese.
Those international agencies still on the ground are now conducting needs assessments to work out how to scale up their operations. But
they say they do not have the capacity to plug the holes and would need permission from the government to take over projects and hire
staff previously employed by the expelled agencies.
Sudan kicked out the 13 aid agencies last week after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur. It accused them of passing information to the ICC, a charge they strongly deny.
Relief groups fear the expulsions could create a new humanitarian disaster in Sudan. In Darfur alone some 4.7 million people rely on aid. The agencies' departure will leave 1.1 million people there without food, 1.5 million without medical care and more than 1 million without drinking water, the United Nations says.
"The very life bridge to the people of Darfur is threatened now ... so this creates a new kind of hell for the people of Darfur," U.N. World Food Programme executive director Josette Sheeran told AlertNet.
Although U.N. agencies have not been thrown out, many relied heavily on the expelled groups to carry out their work on the ground, including
providing food, water and health services.
CONUNDRUM FOR DONORS
Many of the agencies were willing to talk to the media immediately after they were kicked out but have now gone quiet while they try to get the last of their expatriate staff out.
Some agencies say the government has requested passports from remaining international staff. While some report passports being returned, others told AlertNet they were worried that if agencies displeased the government the authorities could refuse to give them back.
"There's nothing we can do Â? they just can't leave till the government's happy," an aid worker from one of the expelled groups said from Nairobi. "That's one reason everyone has gone silent."
The aid worker said money budgeted for Darfur projects should ideally go to other groups that are still allowed to operate.
But he added: "It's very difficult for donors. What happens if we or donors give all our money and assets and staff records to another INGO
(international non-governmental organisation) - and then they get kicked out and all their assets are frozen? The government might say
they're safe but they can change their mind so fast."
He said one of the biggest concerns now was the national staff they had left behind.
"People always forget the local staff. It's been very emotional - we're getting tearful calls from some staff asking what's going on -
it's been really difficult and confusing," he said, but added many others had gone to ground and were not contactable.
"Those we are still in touch with - can we get them jobs with the U.N.? Can we get them jobs with other INGOs? Can we get them to set up
NGOs and fund their NGOs? Lots of avenues are being explored.
"There's also a big question: How do we pay them? All the agencies have this problem. How do we get that sort of money into the country?
Some organisations are really worried Â? some have had bank accounts frozen, some are worried that as soon as they pay it in it'll be
frozen and won't get to staff. There's so little we can do - at the moment they're the ones calling the shots."
Senior U.N. officials and aid groups do not believe the government has the capacity to fill the gaps.
Aid workers are also particularly concerned that a meningitis outbreak could rapidly become an epidemic in Kalma camp where 90,000 displaced people live. Some of the expelled agencies had been about to launch a major vaccination campaign when they were kicked out.
"It's incredibly frustrating," the aid worker in Nairobi said. "We have this situation where we've been expelled ... (there's) a major
humanitarian crisis, and we can't say anything about it. They know that we're not going to risk saying anything while they hold the passports and all the cards."
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