Khartoum: Al-Sammani Awadallah
The Sudanese government announced that it has refused mediation by Friends of Charities Association (FOCA) in Washington to bring back the 13 international agencies expelled from Darfur last March.
State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr. Abdulbagi Al-Jilani, said that the decision of expelling those agencies is sovereign and final affirming that Khartoum only accepts from "FOCA" to reflect the Sudanese government point of view and the reasons behind that decision to both U.S. people and the expelled agencies.
In a press conference held for signing an agreement between Sudan Council of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) and (FOCA), the minister added that the decision is not negotiable but the government would try to explain its position to these agencies through FOCA.
Al-Jilani stressed that the decision of expelling those agencies doesn't come out of the blue or as a reaction to the ICC verdict, pointing out that there are more than 168 agencies working in Sudan from which only 13 agencies were expelled.
"Those agencies were expelled because they had breached their mandate and cooperated with the ICC," said the minister.
He went on saying that FOCA should recognize such facts since the Western countries and the agencies believed that the decision was taken in retaliation to ICC verdict which is totally wrong.
Al-Jilani added that, the government had formed a joint team with the UN to asses the situation in Darfur after the expulsion of the agencies and found that the gap was only 2.7% and it has covered that gap with the cooperation of the state governments and the National NGO's since then.
The state minister underlined that the expelled agencies were only panels for western governments for this reason the foreign diplomats were much inquiring about the reasons behind expelling them.
He further added that they don't have any objections to receive foreign agencies that respect the sovereignty of the Sudan.
On his part, the head of FOCA delegation Dr. Salih bin Suleiman Al-Wahebi, said that their initiative is still in the beginning and they have not held talks in this regard. '"We have heard the Sudanese government view and we will return to Washington to meet with those agencies and we are expecting our initiative might or might not succeed," he said.
He further added that, they know very well that the Darfur issue is a very big international one and that there are some circles who want to make use of it.
Al-Wahebi in conclusion said that they do give top priority to the unity and integrity of Sudan, affirming that FOCA has signed agreement with SCOVA in the fields of support, capacity building, assessment and follow-up.
