“Bureaucratic Obstructionism” in Darfur

Since the outbreak of fighting in Darfur, the United Nations has undertaken one of the biggest humanitarian operations in the organization’s history, feeding and providing medicine to millions of refugees and internally displaced people. Throughout the humanitarian operation, however, the government of Sudan has not always been cooperative. It is often accused by some in the NGO and advocacy community of using tactics like “bureaucratic obstructionism,” to prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid.

That is a somewhat opaque phrase. This is what it looks like in action.

The South Darfur government has expelled Wael al-Haj-Ibrahim, the top official of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the state capital, Nyala. The office is responsible for coordinating international aid efforts in the state…

U.N. spokeswoman Orla Clinton tells VOA the organization has not yet received a clear explanation of the government’s actions.

“He was forced to leave South Darfur. This is a directive from the state government. Today, we are having meetings with the government here in Khartoum on this,” said Clinton. “The only indication we have been given was that he was not complying with the humanitarian acts. Now, we don’t exactly know what that means and we are looking for clarifications on this. So, we are hoping to have those clarifications today.”