Sudan Suspends Aid Groups in Darfur

Sudan has temporarily suspended 52 local nonprofit groups working in South Darfur that did not comply with regulations, a government official told Reuters.

“Some of these NGOs are only present in name—they don’t have offices, no vehicles, they have nothing, just their bags and papers and a stamp,” Jamal Youssef Idriss, from the government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission, told the wire service. About 100 Sudanese nonprofit groups are working in Darfur.

He said the groups are not expelled and that many of them will soon be allowed to resume operations after an investigation.

It is estimated that in the Darfur region of Sudan, 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced over that past four years. Nonprofit organizations working in the region have complained that the government hobbles their work with heavy paperwork and travel restrictions, a claim that officials dispute.