20100816
reuters

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has expelled five U.N. and ICRC workers from West Darfur state, a U.N. official said, in the latest confrontation with international organisations in a region with the world's largest aid operation.

The U.N.-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping mission also announced on Monday that a trench is being built around Nyala, the troubled region's biggest town, to help prevent kidnappings of peacekeepers and aid workers.

On Saturday two Jordanian UNAMID police were abducted and a U.S. woman from the Samaritan's Purse charity was taken three months ago.

Sudan's relationship with foreign aid agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UNAMID, has long been tense, with expulsions and obstruction often the reward for anyone reporting on rights abuses during the seven-year rebellion.

After the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur last year, he expelled 13 aid organisations. Khartoum says they gave the ICC evidence concerning Darfur.

"The heads of the UNHCR (U.N. refugee agency) and FAO (Food and Agriculture) agencies in West Darfur as well as the head of UNHCR agency in Zalengei have been asked to leave," Abdallah al-Fadil, head of UNAMID in West Darfur, told Reuters on Monday.

"The government also informed me that it had asked both the ICRC's heads of delegation in el-Geneina and Zalengei (town) to leave too," he added.

The ICRC said its staff had been "recalled with the agreement of authorities" and added that its operations continued as normal in West Darfur.