Sudan Wants All Foreign Aid Groups Out of the Country

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Sudan (MNN) ? Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, wants all foreign aid groups out of the country within a year. His statement comes days after the expulsion of 13 aid groups in response to a war crimes indictment.

The United Nations said those expulsions would leave millions at risk of a humanitarian crisis.

It's not a new tactic, says Glenn Penner of Voice of the Martyrs-Canada. "Over the years, they've done this repeatedly in one form or another. During the civil war in the South, they quite frequently made it very difficult or banned foreign organizations from working in the country, so we're simply going to have to wait it out." 

Most of the agencies were banished from the conflict-hit Darfur province.  However, there was no distinction between Darfur agencies and those working throughout the rest of the country.

Al-Bashir insisted the NGOs can drop off supplies "at airports or seaports" and let Sudanese groups take care of the distribution.

When asked if their ministry in Sudan would be threatened, Penner noted that,  "At this point, we're not making any contingency plans at all. We do work with another organization in Southern Sudan. Southern Sudan is a little bit of a separate entity, so it'll be interesting to see how much the South will be impacted."

Their team works with a Relief and Development Fund in Sudan. It provides relief aid to needy, persecuted Christian's families, job training, refugee assistance, and other practical means of meaningful help and encouragement.  Much of their work in Sudan is financed through donations to this fund.

Penner says, "Pray for the believers who are working there that they'll continue to operate as freely as they can, for as long as they can, [and] that we won't be overcome by fear."