Aid organizations’ fears are compounded by the army-backed government’s proposed new regulations, which will only make the country’s 25 million-plus hunger victims at risk.
The Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government agency overseeing humanitarian operations in Sudan, is required to register all relief initiatives in the state according to a directive that was made public by Khartoum state on its official Facebook page this month.
Aid organizations, local relief volunteers, and experts claim that former HAC leader Omar al-Bashir gave the HAC more authority to register, monitor, and, arguing with critics, formally repress local and Western aid organizations in 2006.
Ahmed*, a local volunteer in Khartoum, compared the Emergency Response Rooms, grassroots committees that are coordinating the humanitarian response in Sudan, as HAC is trying to monitor and restrain the work of ERRs by making us register.
The state of Khartoum’s HAC commissioner, Khaled Abdelraheem Ahmed, gave an interview to Al Jazeera who confirmed the new directive.
He claimed that to register, one must pay an estimated $800 and submit a list of the names of the volunteers or employees who work in each relief initiative.
No one is permitted to engage in humanitarian work without registration, according to Abdelraheem.
dispenseable relief
ERRs are concerned about the new directive. Since the civil war broke out between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, they have been instrumental in providing food, shelter, and helping civilians flee attacks.
Regardless of who has control over the areas in which they operate, the ERRs maintain a public neutrality stance.
Throughout the entire war, both sides have attacked them.
Local activists, foreign aid workers, and experts now believe the HAC is attempting to track down and control ERRs in Khartoum in an effort to profit from their already pricy budgets.
According to Kholood Khair, a Sudanese expert and founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank, any restrictions or obstacles to their work could have devastating effects on Khartoum’s civilians.
She told Al Jazeera, “There is one meal a day for many people in many areas in Khartoum.”
“Famine levels will go through the roof if people start missing that one meal because]ERR] volunteers are not turning up [because they don’t feel safe enough]show up and feed them,” Khair said.
Prior to this, experts and aid workers told Al Jazeera that they thought the HAC was a military intelligence unit.
Nabil Abdullah, a spokesperson for the army, reached out to discuss the accusations against the HAC.
Before it was published, he did not respond.
Najm al-din Musa, the HAC’s head, previously refuted claims that the commission was involved in aid diversion, calling Al Jazeera “lies.”
political assistance
The HAC has long been accused of enforcing bureaucratic restrictions to impede the movement of international aid to areas that are beyond the army’s control.
Aid organizations are frequently required to apply for numerous, seemingly endless, permissions from various ministries and security branches to significantly delay or completely obstruct access to areas that are beyond the army’s control and in urgent need, according to aid workers who have previously told Al Jazeera.
The army has been accused of using food and aid as a weapon of war by experts, international relief workers, and human rights organizations as a result of this practice.
Hamid Khalafallah, a PhD candidate at Manchester University in the United Kingdom and an expert on Sudan’s grassroots movements, thinks that the HAC is pressuring ERRs to register.
He told Al Jazeera, “The HAC wants to control the programming of [the ERRs] and make sure that it aligns with their priorities, which are obviously politicized and adhere to the de facto [army]government’s] guidelines.”
Local relief workers and experts worry that if ERR members in Khartoum register with the HAC, they could face unwanted harassment or arrest.
A number of “hit lists” were published on social media shortly after the army recaptured most of Khartoum in March, according to Khalafallah.
The lists accused hundreds of civilians from cooperating with the group who were under the control of the RSF while they were unable to get away from Khartoum.
Some ERR members’ names were included in the lists.
Competition and autonomy
Four local relief workers unnamed “Karama” (Dignity), which the army has established, have been providing some services to Khartoum residents, Al Jazeera reported, without providing further information.
The Karama committees have not attempted to obstruct the ERRs’ activities, according to the relief workers.
Local residents continue to be skeptical about the Karama committees’ claims that they were intended to assist the army in establishing a reliable electoral bloc through aid.
The army wants the people to be able to provide the services through them. They will handle the distribution of food, medicine, and other supplies, according to Noon*, a local volunteer from one of the ERRs.
She told Al Jazeera, “It’s a type of propaganda.”
ERR volunteers worry that if they register with the HAC, they will be unable to provide aid to their communities if they ever return to the control of RSF.
According to them, this could significantly undermine the trust that ERR volunteers have had since the start of the war have built in their communities.
Others are concerned that once ERRs register as part of a wider plot to bolster Karama committees at their expense, the HAC will try to restrict and impede their activities.
However, both experts and representatives from international aid organizations claimed that the army was not completing the RSF’s basic services adequately.
Because volunteers don’t need permission from a state authority before making life-saving decisions, Khalafallah claimed, the ERRs have been successful in reducing the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan.
Because the work they do relies on being completely independent and [on having a model] where accountability looks downwards to the beneficiaries, he said, “is absolutely harmful to ERRs to register with HAC.”
Using aid to profit?
The ERRs are battling to raise enough money to help their communities.
They now worry that if they register with the HAC, they will have to pay it.
“We are aware that HAC will reduce our spending,” the statement read. Noon said, “… This is really the main issue with registering.”
The HAC has a long history of reorganizing aid organizations in exchange for money. Before the war, they had to force organizations that provided aid to hire HAC staff to deliver it and interview candidates.
International aid organizations that have supported ERRs since the start of the war, whether they register or not, are likely to continue doing so quietly. The source did, however, warn that HAC may receive concessions from UN agencies.
According to the source, “what the UN agrees to with the HAC will have an impact on everybody else and undermine everyone else’s position.”
Sudan’s UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson, Daniel Tengo, told Al Jazeera that the UN has not yet decided whether to continue supporting ERRs that are not registered with the HAC.
He continued, “OCHA is in contact with ERRs and is waiting for them to decide.”
He stated that OCHA is aware of the recent communication from Khartoum HAC and has reached out to the Emergency Response Rooms’ coordination body to learn more about the implications.
ERRs confirmed that they were aware of [HAC’s directive] and that internal discussions are still being pursued regarding the best course of action, Tengo told Al Jazeera.
Local relief workers in Khartoum explained that each ERR there will consider its members before acting on their own behalf with other ERRs.
They will ultimately decide everything on their own.
Salma*, a local volunteer, said, “Maybe we will find another creative solution.”
She told Al Jazeera, “We are just trying to find a way to keep working without creating more conflicts and issues.”
