Megan Rowling
Sudan has ordered 16 aid organisations (13 international and three national) to shut down. It came after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur. The move threatens relief work in the conflict-torn western region of Darfur, which was the world's largest humanitarian operation before the expulsions. The president also wants foreign agencies to hand over distribution of aid to Sudanese groups within a year.
Here are some facts about aid work in Darfur.
- Some 72 international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) remain in Darfur following the expulsions
- Of the 14,800 NGO workers in Darfur before the expulsions, only 700 were international staff
- As of March 5, 40 percent of aid workers in Darfur - 6,500 national and international staff - had been forced to leave the region, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
- According to U.N. figures from October 2008, there are nearly 2.7 million displaced people in Darfur - around 1.41 million in the southern state, 509,000 in the north and 766,000 in the west. Of Darfur's population of around 6.3 million, the United Nations estimates 4.7 million people have been affected by the conflict
- The expulsions threaten to leave 1.5 million people in Darfur without healthcare, 1.1 million without food and 1.2 million without drinking water, the United Nations says
- The closure of facilities has left the districts of Jebel Marra and Sheiria with no healthcare at all, according to the World Health Organisation. Others have seen significant reductions in healthcare, including El Geneina (20 percent), Kutum (22 percent), Habila (63 percent) and Kass (83 percent)
- The U.N. World Food Programme has begun a one-off distribution to provide 1.1 million people with enough food for two months. WFP relied heavily on several of the expelled aid agencies to deliver food aid. Agencies say the provision of clean water will be hindered by restricted access to camps and a lack of fuel for pumps
- Last November, the United Nations and its partners appealed for $2.18 billion to fund their work in Sudan in 2009. Just under half - $1.05 billion - is for relief and early recovery operations in Darfur
- As of March 18, donors had pledged around $697 million or one third of funding needs for the whole country in 2009 (which includes relief provision in Darfur), and just 1 percent of the cost of projects based only in Darfur, according to the United Nations Financial Tracking Service. Contributions for 2008 covered 70 percent of needs, reaching $1.4 billion
- The U.N. Children's Fund says it needs $23.6 million to be able to meet the urgent needs of children and women over the next three months
- The United States has donated the largest amount of aid to Sudan so far this year - $435 million, or 62 percent of the total - followed by the European Commission - $39 million, or 6 percent - and Japan - $20 million, or 3 percent
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