In response to further expulsions of international aid workers from Darfur, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) have appealed to the UN Security Council to demand immediate and full access for relief organizations to the displaced and distressed in Sudan and an end to the harassment of aid workers. "Sudanese authorities are systematically obstructing the efforts of humanitarian aid workers from other countries," said Ulrich Delius, head of the Africa section at STP, on Tuesday. "The international community can no longer stand by while more than 4 million Darfuris in dire need of aid are held hostage by the Sudanese government in their conflict with the International Criminal Court (ICC)."

Just last Sunday, August 15, 2010, five employees of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross were expelled from West Darfur. Ever since the ICC added genocide to the charges in the arrest warrant for president Omar Hassan al Bashir, the pressure on foreign aid workers in West Sudan has grown enormously. On August 9, Bashir threatened relief workers with expulsion should they overstep their authority and violate Sudanese law. "It was a blatant threat, following on the expulsion of 13 relief organizations in March 2009, once again making international aid workers the targets of attacks and other retaliatory acts."

Since August 2, 2010, Sudanese officials have blocked aid workers from entering the Kalma refugee camp in South Darfur, where 82,000 people are currently living. To date, all attempts by the UN to persuade Sudan to lift the blockade have failed. More and more people are fleeing the camp because neither their maintenance nor their safety can be guaranteed. "The situation of the civilian population in Darfur is increasingly catastrophic. If even the international community cannot manage to guarantee at least a modicum of humanitarian aid and safety in the refugee camps, international humanitarian law is in trouble," Delius warned.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed concern about both the blockading of refugee camps and the situation of the UNAMID peacekeeping force. Two Jordanian police advisors with the UNAMID were kidnapped last Saturday in Nyala, South Darfur. In the same city, two aid workers from the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) were kidnapped in June 2010. The Germans were released five weeks later, but the fear of further attacks is increasing among aid groups.