The Sudanese government has set new terms for foreign organisations working in providing humanitarian aid and services in conflict areas in the states of: Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan; said terms have restricted the works of said organisations.

The Sudanese government enforced foreign organisations to provide their services alongside all the relevant government bodies and entities.

On Saturday 9th of June, in a press conference in Khartoum, General Commissioner of Humanitarian Aid in Sudan, Ahmed Mohamed Adam, stated that any foreign organisation cannot do any work inside Sudan without the approval of an original national partner in all fields such as the medical field, educational field and other fields of work. According to Tag Press website, the Commissioner threatened to suspend any organisation that is not actively working, he also added: “this stem comes in part of development and legalisation of humanitarian volunteering work in Sudan.”

The Commissioner disclosed that there are 13 thousand humanitarian organisations registered within the different states of Sudan in addition to 5,300 federal organisations. Moreover, he announced 320 agreements made between foreign organisations and their peer national organisations, all of which aimed at establishing the “Twining Principle” which is stated in the Volunteer Work Law that dictates the nationalisation of volunteer work in Sudan. Furthermore, he announced that the Commission established a committee that started evaluating the performance of national organisations.

The Voluntary and Humanitarian Work (Organization) Act, 2006 states in Article 4 (Interpretation) that: ““voluntary and humanitarian work” means any non-profit voluntary humanitarian activity, carried out by any national, or foreign voluntary, or charitable organization, registered in the Sudan, targeting rendering humanitarian aids, relief, public services, human rights services protection of the environment or enhancement of economic and social standers of the beneficiaries, and renders voluntary humanitarian work in the said fields.”

Source: Tag Press