WHEN a displaced Darfuri woman stood up and told US Senator John Kerry about life in Al Salam camp, she pointed to a face-saving compromise that would ensure desperately needed aid reaches camps such as hers. “Problems have gotten worse since the NGOs left,” she said, referring to the expulsion of 13 international aid groups immediately after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir. “We ask for the return of the NGOs or good replacements for them,” she said. Such a deal is already in the offing, according to aid workers, diplomats and government officials, but Khartoum has been forceful in denying that expelled aid groups will return. Sudan's ambassador to the United States, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, told Reuters on Thursday: “The expelled organizations for us are a closed file. It's irreversible.” For a government that insists that the aid groups were passing information to the ICC, the return of groups such as Oxfam GB, CARE, Save the Children and two arms of Medecins Sans Frontieres is, publicly at least, out of the question. Yet progress has been made through a flurry of diplomatic activity that includes visits by Senator Kerry and US special envoy Scott Gration. So while Bashir himself maintains a defiant attitude in rallies across Sudan and in visits to friendly countries, his government has been quietly reaching out to erstwhile enemies. A Sudanese government decree obtained by Reuters calls for immediate easing of travel restrictions for all workers in voluntary organizations with valid residency permits, prompt visa approval from Sudanese embassies and closer coordination between relevant parties. End game The incentive for Sudan is, at the far end of a long process, the prospect of an end to economic sanctions and removal from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Kerry told Reuters on Friday that the ICC arrest warrant has complicated but not derailed US efforts to engage with Khartoum on substantive issues, including peace in Darfur and the full implementation of the peace accord that ended 20 years of civil war between the north and the south. A UN vote on whether to defer the indictment, as proposed by UN Security Council permanent members China and Russia as well as the Arab League and African Union, would complicate matters for the United States as it pursues diplomatic efforts to bring back aid agencies and end the conflict in Darfur. The United States would have to choose between vetoing the proposal, which would undermine its leverage over Khartoum, and letting it pass, which would alienate some allies and the powerful domestic lobby opposed to the Sudanese government. As Sudan expert Alex de Waal notes: “It is in the interests of everybody for there to be an arrangement that allows a resumption of the humanitarian position in Darfur with the maximum capacity and the minimum fuss.” A number of sources have said negotiations are in progress for four US agencies including Save the Children and CARE to return, but no one will speak openly about it because of the sensitivity of the issue, and it is not clear how Sudan would explain such an apparent volte-face. Situation deteriorating Before the expulsions, the United Nations and aid groups were running in Darfur the world's largest humanitarian operation. International experts say that in almost six years of conflict 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.7 million people have been displaced. The expelled groups made up 40 percent of the humanitarian work force in the western region. Aid groups have since reported fatal cases of diarrhoea in some camps, including 10 deaths in Zamzam in the past week, and the approaching rainy season will further threaten health and sanitation. Over 36,000 people have arrived in Zamzam since late January, doubling the size of the camp. “Latrines will fill up soon and need replacing – if communities don't have the funds and technical support to construct new ones, that will have a huge impact on people's health,” said Alun McDonald, spokesman for Oxfam. UN agencies have said they could not fill the gap left by their NGO partners, who handed out food aid, monitored for disease outbreaks and provided clean water and health care across Darfur, a remote region roughly the size of France. The joint African Union/UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur says it has recently provided water and shelter to displaced people and remains concerned about the situation in camps such as Zamzam, which aid groups say are refusing government services. “We are concerned about the situation on the ground and we are doing our best, although the mandate of UNAMID is not to provide humanitarian assistance,” UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni said.
