NGOs free to leave, says Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir
Omar al-Bashir

Omar al-Bashir

NYALA.— Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday said Khartoum does not need aid organisations or what he called “the remnants of food tables that they present”.

“We say to the World Food Programme and others that we don’t need you. Find somewhere else with your aid,” said President al-Bashir when addressing a mass rally at Nyala, the capital city of South Darfur State.

“Take your aid to needy and poor people other than us. Sudan, with its bounties, does not need you. We are the one who aid others, and it is not likely for the organisations to bring us the remnants of food tables from America and others,” he noted.

Hundreds of foreign organisations are operating in the Darfur region that has been suffering from a civil war since 2003, where the conflict has displaced nearly two million people along with thousands of refugees to neighbouring Chad.

The UN and other international organisations earlier complained about “significant restrictions” by Sudan’s government on their movements, while the Sudanese government is accusing the organisations of surpassing their mandates and exercising other tasks including spying and providing support for the rebels.

Last Friday, President al-Bashir started touring Darfur’s five states, ahead of the upcoming referendum on Darfur’s administrative status, slated for April 11.

Major Darfur rebel movements reject participating in the referendum, unless Khartoum fulfils their demands of reaching a political solution with the armed groups and financially compensating citizens affected by the conflict.

The Sudanese government stressed that the referendum must be implemented according to the Abuja peace deal that Khartoum signed with the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)/ Minni Minnawi faction in 2006.

The Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, signed by the government and the Liberation and Justice Movement in 2011, stipulates conducting a referendum in Darfur, and that its outcome will be included in the country’s permanent constitution.

According to the agreement, if Darfur citizens vote for one state, then the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA) will form a constitutional committee to determine the authority of Darfur’s regional governments.

However, if Darfur citizens vote for the current five states, then, according to the agreement, the current status of the five states will remain as they are, and the TDRA will be dissolved. — Xinhua.

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