Humanitarian workers and activists fear that the new regulations announced by the Government supported by the Sudan Army will lead to an offensive against local aid volunteers, exacerbating the catastrophic crisis of hunger that affects 25 million people throughout the country.
A directive announced by Khartum State on its official Facebook page this month said that all aid initiatives in the State must be registered in the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government agency that supervises humanitarian operations in Sudan.
The Hac received expanded powers to register, monitor and, to critics, argue, take energetic measures against local and western aid groups of former leader Omar Al-Bashir in 2006, according to help groups, local help volunteers and experts.
“Ha is trying to monitor and restrict Errs's work by forcing us to register … and I fear that they will arrest the volunteers if we continue working but we do not register,” said Ahmed*, a local volunteer in Jardtum, told the emergency response rooms, a base committees that are leading the humanitarian response in Sudan.
Khaled Abdelraheem Ahmed, the Commissioner of HA for the State of Jardum, confirmed the new directive to Al Jazeera.
He said the registration requires paying a rate of approximately $ 800 and sending a list of names of employees or volunteers in each aid initiative.
“[Nobody] It is allowed to carry out humanitarian activities without registering, ”said Abdelraheem.
Indispensable relief
The new directive is generating concern between Errs. They have been fundamental to feed, protect and rescue the civilians from attacks since the civil war between the regular Sudan army and the Paramilitary Fast Support forces broke out (RSF) in April 2023.
Errs maintain a public neutrality position in an effort to preserve humanitarian access, regardless of who controls the areas in which they operate at a given time.
Even so, they have been attacked on both sides throughout the war.
Local activists, foreign aid workers and experts now suspect that the HA is trying to register Errs in Jardtum to try to monitor and co -opt their activities and benefit from their budgets already scarce.
Any restriction or impediment to your work could have devastating consequences for civilians in Jardum, said Kholood Khair, an expert in Sudan and founder of the confluence advisor experts.
“In Jardum, it's a food a day for many people in many areas,” Al Jazeera told.
“If people begin to miss that food because [ERR] Volunteers are not appearing because they don't feel safe enough to [show up and feed them]Then, obviously, that means that the famine levels will go through the roof, ”Khair added.
Experts and help workers previously told Al Jazeera that they consider that the HA is a military intelligence team.
Al Jazeera contacted the Nabil Abdullah army spokesman to comment on the accusations against the HA.
He did not respond before the publication.
The head of the HAC, Najm al-Din Musa, previously denied the accusations that the commission was involved in the aid diversion, telling Al Jazeera that they were “lies.”
Politicization help
The HA has been accused of imposing bureaucratic impediments to prevent international aid groups from reaching regions outside the army control.
It often forces the help agencies to request multiple permits, apparently endless, of several ministries and security branches as a way of significantly delaying or directly blocking access to regions outside the control of the army and, in urgent need, the workers of help to Jazeera.
This practice has led experts, global aid workers and human rights groups to accuse the army for food use and help as a weapon of war.
However, Hamid Khalafallah, an expert in the base movements of Sudan and a doctoral candidate at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, believes that the HA is even more politicizing help by forcing ERS to register.
“[The HAC] wants to control the programming of [the ERRs] and make sure that it coincides with their priorities … that they are obviously politicized and the de facto guidelines follow [army] Government, ”he told Al Jazeera.
In addition, local relief workers and experts fear that if ERTUM members register with the HA, then their names could be delivered to the intelligence branches, exposing them to unwanted harassment or arrest.
Shortly after the army recovered most of Jardum in March, a series of “successful lists” circulated on social networks, said Khalafallah.
The lists accused hundreds of civilians who did not have the resources to flee from the RSF while controlling Jard to cooperate with the group.
The names of some err members were on the lists.
Competition and autonomy
The Army has created some of its own humanitarian committees called “Karama” (dignity), which have been providing some services to civilians in Jardtum, four local help workers said to Al Jazeera without providing details.
Help workers said Karama's committees have not tried to obstruct Errs' work.
Local volunteers still care that Karama's committees were designed to help the army build a loyal constituency through the provision of aid.
“He [army] He wants services to pass through the people who designate. They will handle the distribution of food, Medicare and anything else, ”said Noon*, a local volunteer from one of the ERRS.
“It's a type of propaganda,” he told Al Jazeera.
Err volunteers care that if they are registered with the HA, they will be forbidden to help their communities if they ever return under RSF control.
This could significantly damage the confidence that Err volunteers have built with their communities since the beginning of the war, they said.
Others are concerned that the HA tries to restrict and prevent Errs's work once they register as part of a broader ploy to empower Karama committees to his coast.
However, experts and international humanitarian workers said that the army is not doing enough to repair basic services in a city that has been destroyed by the RSF.
On the contrary, Errs have been effective to act quickly to mitigate humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan because volunteers do not need the approval of a state authority before making decisions that save lives, Khalafallah said.
“This requirement [to register] With HA it is absolutely harmful to Errs because the work they do is based on being totally independent and … [on having a model] Where responsibility looks down at the beneficiaries, ”he said.
Providing outside the aid?
Errs are struggling to raise enough money to support their communities.
They are now worried that they are forced to cough money to the doing if they have to register with him.
“We know that doing will take a cut of our budgets … This is the main problem [with registering] Really, ”said Noon.
The Hang has a long history of shaking the agencies for money for money. Even before the war, they forced the help groups to hire HA personnel to deliver help and sit in work interviews.
A foreign aid worker who did not want to be appointed these international aid agencies who have supported Err from the beginning of the war will probably continue to do so in silence whether or not they register. However, the source warned that the United Nations agencies can make concessions to HA.
“What the UN agrees [with the HAC] It will have an impact on everyone else, and will undermine everyone else's position, ”said the source.
Daniel I have, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) of Sudan, told Al Jazeera that the UN has not decided if it will maintain or stop supporting Errs that are not registered with the HA.
He added that Ocha is in contact with Errs and waiting for them to make a decision.
“Ocha is aware of the recent communication of Jartum HA and has reached the coordination body of emergency response rooms to better understand the implications,” he said.
“Errs confirmed the awareness of [HAC’s directive] And he indicated that internal discussions are in progress about the best way to respond, ”I said to Al Jazeera.
Local aid workers in Jartum explained that each error in Jardum will deliberate among their own members and then share their opinion with other errs.
In the end, they will reach a unanimous decision.
“Maybe we will find another creative solution,” said Salma*, a local volunteer.
“We are just trying to find a way to continue working without creating more fights and problems,” he told Al Jazeera.
*The names of local humanitarian workers have changed due to security concerns.
