Sudan’s military government has ordered two senior officials at the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) to leave the country amid widespread famine sparked by a gruelling civil war that erupted in April 2023.
The WFP said directors of its Sudan operation were declared “personae non grata” and told to go within 72 hours, without explanation.
The decision comes days after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), captured the key city of el-Fasher in Darfur from the military after an 18-month siege, which included a food blockade.
The WFP said the expulsions came a “pivotal time” as humanitarian needs in Sudan had “never been greater with more than 24 million people facing acute food insecurity”.
Although the military government has not given a reason for the expulsions, it has previously accused aid groups of breaking local laws and releasing misleading reports on famine conditions.
The government said the expulsion will not affect the country’s cooperation with the WFP, state news agency Suna reported.
The WFP says it is engaging with Sudanese authorities to resolve the matter.
Two-and-a-half years of fighting between the army and the RSF escalated on Sunday, when the RSF seized el-Fasher in the western region of Darfur.
There are now fears for the fate of the estimated 250,000 people in the city, many from non-Arab communities. Reports of atrocities, including mass-killings, have been mounting since the city fell.
“The situation in el-Fasher is extremely dire and there are violations taking place on the roads, including looting and shooting, with no distinction made between young or old,” one man who managed to escape el-Fasher told the BBC Arabic’s Sudan Lifeline programme.
“We managed to reach Tawila, where humanitarian organisations are present. We are grateful that we arrived, even though we have been sleeping on the roads.”
Tawila is a town about 60km (37 miles) west of el-Fasher and already hosts around 800,000 people – many of whom escaped from the vast Zamzam camp near el-Fasher when it was attacked by the RSF in April.
Since the conflict erupted, RSF fighters and allied Arab militia in Darfur have been accused of targeting people from non-Arab ethnic groups – allegations the RSF denies.
On Tuesday, the el-Fasher Resistance Committee, a group of local activists, accused the RSF of executing wounded people receiving treatment at the city’s Saudi Hospital.
Researchers at Yale University supported this allegation, saying satellite images appear to show “clusters” of bodies within the hospital grounds.
International bodies such as the European Union and African Union have expressed alarm, while locals say the current situation is reminiscent of the region’s darkest days.
Darfur experienced one of the world’s gravest humanitarian disasters from 2003 to 2020.
The Janjaweed, a militia who were accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing during this time, morphed into what is now the RSF.
Sudanese-American poet Emtithal Mahmoud, who has family in el-Fasher and lost relatives in the previous Darfur conflict, said she felt a “genocide” was occurring once again as seen from social media footage being posted by the RSF.
“The only difference… is that now it’s live streamed and video taped and sent around because the RSF understands that they can act with impunity,” Ms Mahmoud told the BBC.
The RSF denies targeting civilians.