Authorities in Sudan's West Darfur state have expelled five humanitarian workers from the United Nations and the Red Cross. The UN chief expresses alarm about the situation in Darfur.

The aid workers, among them the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation office in the state capital El-Geneina, were told to pack up and leave for Khartoum, the officials say.

Two senior members of the UN refugee agency were asked by West Darfur authorities to leave the region for unknown reasons, an official at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.

Red Cross
Chief delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross in El-Geneina and in the city of Zalingei were also ordered out of the region, sources have say.

The ICRC's spokeswoman in Khartoum, Aleksandra Matijevic, confirmed the pair left Darfur but said they had been recalled by the Red Cross.

"It did not come from Khartoum and we are handling the matter with the state authorities of West Darfur”, the minister of state for humanitarian affairs, Mutrif Siddiq said.

ICC
In mid-July Sudan expelled two members of the International Organisation for Migration in the wake of an International Criminal Court decision to charge Bashir with genocide over the conflict in Darfur.

When the ICC issued a warrant for Bashir's arrest on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur in March last year, the Sudanese government expelled 13 relief organisations from the region.

The vast western Sudanese region has also seen a wave of kidnappings of foreign aid workers since March 2009 when the ICC issued the arrest warrant for Bashir.

After the clashes between supporters and opponents of peace talks between the Khartoum government and rebels, Sudanese authorities had blocked five NGOs and UN agencies from reaching the camp -- home to more than 80,000 displaced persons and one of the world's largest refugee camps.

source: AFP