Sudan expels UNDP country director

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Sudan expels UNDP country director

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December 24, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese authorities gave the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director 72 hours to
leave the country, multiple sources told Sudan Tribune.

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The reason for the decision was not immediately known and officials at
the UN office in Khartoum refused to comment.

Several sources confirmed that the UNDP country director Yvonne Helle
sent a farewell e-mail to her staff Wednesday to thanked them for
their cooperation during her tenure in Sudan.

Helle assumed her role as UNDP Country Director in Sudan in November
of last year.

Sudanese authorities routinely accuse UN agencies working in the
country of non-neutrality and seeking to serve the agenda of foreign
intelligence agencies and going beyond their mandate. The security
apparatus also closely monitors UN workers in Sudan.

Last April, the foreign ministry expelled the head of United Nations
Population Fund (UNPFA) in Sudan on charge of interfering in the
country’s internal affairs.

Immediately after the first arrest warrant of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir in March
2009, Sudan also expelled 13 aid groups from Darfur accusing it of
collaborating with the war crime courts.

Since then, the Sudanese government intensified its crackdown on
foreign aid agencies.

(ST)