Aid agencies fear that more than a million people in the African region of Darfur may not be getting humanitarian food rations starting in May. The worries come weeks after the Sudanese government expelled more than a dozen foreign aid groups after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir.

AP via Los Angeles Times:

More than a million people in Darfur will not get their food rations starting in May if Sudan and the United Nations can’t fill gaps left by the expulsion of more than a dozen foreign aid groups, a joint U.N.-Sudanese assessment team said Tuesday.

Even if other relief organizations in the region help, those are “Band-Aid solutions, not long-term solutions,” said John Holmes, the top U.N. humanitarian official.

Sudan expelled 13 foreign aid organizations and closed three local ones this month after the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

The government refuses to have any dealings with the court and has accused the aid groups of collaborating on the case.

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