Here is the transcript of the audio report with a few added photos:

Exactly three weeks ago, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. Like many people in Sudan, I was glued to the television set to view the announcement. It was 4 p.m.

An anonymous blogger who worked for an international aid agency in Darfur wrote on AlertNet, that one hour after the announcement was made, his agency received a phone call. “The Government had revoked our licence and we must close all our programmes. No further explanation. First thing the next day we were told all international staff had to leave Darfur by 4 p.m.” They had to be out of the area exactly 24 hours after the ICC announcement.

According the the UN’s Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 13 International Agencies were expelled:
- Action contre la faim
- Solidarité
- Save the Children (UK & US)
- Medecins Sans Frontières (NL & FR)
- CARE International
- Oxfam (GB)
- Mercy Corps
- International Rescue Committee
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- CHF International
- PADCO
- And three Sudanese relief agencies were also closed.

The International Herald Tribune reported on March 21, that armed men looted Oxfam’s Darfur Warehouse, “stealing all of its contents.” While in Malual Kon, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State where Mercy Corps has a compound, I learned that all of their equipment from their Darfur and Khartoum operations were seized since their expulsion: computers, communication radios, everything. Since their communication system was centred in Khartoum, they have had to reorganize their communication strategy for their activities in Southern Sudan.

Internews—which is an International NGO affiliated with Mercy Corps—coordinates Nhomlaau FM in Malual Kon. It has three other community radio stations in Southern Sudan. One of these is located in  Kurmuk, Blue Nile State, which is within the North/South transitional area. The radio station there was nearly closed along with Mercy Corps, but they managed to continue broadcasting by arguing their independence of the US-based NGO.

I’ve been travelling throughout Southern Sudan for the past four weeks and was recently in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state, which shares its northern border with Southern Darfur. According to the IRIN News Network, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal is expecting an influx of Internally Displaced People (or IDPs) from Southern Darfur as conditions are expected to deteriorate as a result of the expulsion of the 16 NGOs. Although the report suggests that the UN and the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission are “are preparing for potential inflows of Darfuris,”  their arrival will certainly put a strain on the area’s already scarce infrastructure.

IDPs returning to Northern Bahr el_Ghazal in 2007 (courtesy IOM)

Since 2007, there has been a coordinated transport of hundreds of thousands of IDP returnees to Northern Bahr el-Ghazal from Southern Darfur and Khartoum. These people are returning to their homeland after being displaced during Sudan’s other civil war that ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. Many are returning to rural locations without access to sanitation, safe drinking water, clinics or schools.

According to the International Organization for Migration (or IOM), many villages in the area have had a rate of IDP Returnees as high as 80-90% of their pre-2007 population. 2007 is the year when organized returns of Internally displaced people began in earnest with the help of IOM and the government of Southern Sudan.

waterhole in War Faj, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal

Access to safe drinking water is already in short supply throughout the state for those already living there. The influx of Darfuris could cause serious tensions at existing water sources and could lead to localized conflict. Waterborne infectious diseases, like cholera and meningitis, could become a serious problem.

To make matters worse, the rainy season is approaching. By the end of April, road travel will be become difficult and delivery of goods will be seriously impaired. Rain is a serious matter in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and neighbouring states. During the 2008 rainy season the state experienced serious flooding. During my time in the area, I’ve driven past remnants of nearly half a dozen temporary camps where thousands were displaced to during last year’s flooding.

Flood Map of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap States (courtesy UNJLC, Juba)

A  March 1, 2009 report from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, writes, “The potential movement of 1.5 million displaced Darfur residents into Southern Sudan’s Northern and Western Bahr el-Ghazal states, due to disruptions in humanitarian assistance, presents a severe threat to food security in the two states.”

During a visit to Darfur four days after the ICC arrest warrant was issued President Al-Bashir said that his decision to expel the 16 NGOs from Darfur was “irreversible.” The position of the Khartoum government has not changed since, although they have vowed to replace the international NGOs with Sudanese agencies and end the need for aid in Darfur within the year. No clear solution is in sight.

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An interesting article about Fallout Scenarios as a result of the expulsion of 16 NGOs from Darfur can be found here.

Road dust in Juba, Southern Sudan, March 2009

Today’s the day everyone has been anticipating. At 16h00 (14h00 in the Hague) the International Criminal Court will announce three judges’ decision regarding the Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s July 14, 2008 request (via submission of documents: ICC-02/05-157 & ICC-02/05-157-AnxA) to issue an arrest warrant for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Interesting articles about the case are here and here.

Since the February 23, 2009 ICC announcement that it would make its decision public, people I’ve met in Southern Sudan have been speculating on the effects the decision will have on their lives and their work. Most of those I’ve spoken to seem to expect a public reaction in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum where there is significant popular support for Al Bashir.

In Juba, reports of US$ currency shortages in some banks may indicate that there is a fear of a decline in the value of the Sudanese Pound as a result of the expected ICC decision to issue an arrest warrant. From last Monday morning to Tuesday evening, the value of the Sudanese Pound on the black market has decrease from 2.3SP/1US$ to 2.6SP/1US$.

On my way to the Juba airport at 8h15 this morning, I notice that there are more soldiers than usual on the streets, and considerably more of them were armed with automatic weapons slung over their right shoulders. I would have initially been in the town of Abyei, in the Transitional Areas along the border between Northern and Southern Sudan, established in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, but because of the anticipated decision, my own schedule was changed. UN agencies in Sudan are on alert and are discouraged to travel beyond 14h00 this afternoon. A curfew is on for tonight. Expats are to stay indoors.

My flight from Nairobi to Juba is in a Canadair (I forget which type) and today’s flight from Juba to Wau is in a Bombardier (I also neglected to note which type), so I feel very much at home as I get around these parts. Although I flew a commercial airline to Juba, today’s flight is with the UN World Food Program’s Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS). They are responsible for getting the humanitarian and development community around the country. The WFP’s transport infrastructure is extensive and, as from what I saw today, well organized. UNICEF registered me on this morning’s flight and provided a letter of introduction stating that I am on official mission with their counterparts (I have a contract to write ‘Stories from the Field’ for the Canadian International Development Agency). UNICEF has been very helpful in providing me with access to parts of the country I may not have otherwise been able to get to.

In Juba, I visited UNICEF’s Mine Risk Education Program, designed to teach mainly youth in communities living near suspected minefields left over from the civil war. More about this in another post.

In Wau, I have no official visits scheduled but will collaborate on stories with Sudan Radio Service’s Wau Producer, Martin  Siba. We are meeting tomorrow for the first time to establish a game plan for the next four days. Martin will travel to the same places as me after Wau, so we will continue our collaborative efforts for a few weeks. I will schedule time each day to meet with him to investigate stories and share interviews and contacts. our reports will air on SRS in Sudan and CKUT in Montréal.

I arrive at Wau airport and wait two hours. At first I’m frustrated by the absent corresponding ride and the wait but then I appreciated the time I had to observe the preparations for the ICC announcement. It was finally annonced, and the Government of Sudan’s reaction to the arrest warrant against its president for crimes against humanity and war crimes (genocide was dropped for lack of evidence), has been to expel several international aid groups. Details can be read here and here.

Derelict aircraft at Wau Airport

As I wait in the shade of the airport’s security building, seven pickup trucks filled with about twenty Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers each drive past toward the unpaved airstrip for manoeuvres and instructions before being assigned to their respective areas of the airport. Each soldier has an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder. On two of the pickup trucks is mounted a serious machine guns. Once a ragtag rebel army during the civil war, the SPLA is being transformed into the official army of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) as the south prepares for the CPA-mandated referendum in 2011, which could deliver the South’s independence from the rest of Sudan. Three derelict aircraft lay by the airstrip as reminders of the 21-year civil war.

Before hitching a ride with a driver from the Red Crescent Society, I buy a bottle of water for the ride to the UNICEF office, where I’m greeted by the Operations Officer with a kind welcome and an appreciated coffee. I’m driven to the UNICEF residential compound, and settle into my room by installing my mosquito netting. Considering it hasn’t rained here in about six months, mosquitoes are not a concern but it’s a prevention routine I will maintain throughout the trip.