Key Points

• On 31 May, seven international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) received letters from the Government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) ordering them to terminate their programmes and close their offices in eastern Sudan by the end of June 2012. The seven international NGOs were running programmes across a range of humanitarian sectors including, health, nutrition, demining, water and sanitation.

• According to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there has been an increase in the number of refugees from Blue Nile arriving in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, with over 35,000 refugees arriving in the last three weeks bringing the total number of Sudanese refugees in Upper Nile to 105,000 people. Refugees arriving in South Sudan have spoken of continued fighting and a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Blue Nile State. In total, there are now some 183,000 refugees in camps in South Sudan and Ethiopia.

• According to reports received by the UN, on 29 May the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) withdrew from Abyei to Nyama, approximately 30kms north of the Abyei area boundary. The Sudanese Police Service later withdrew from Abyei town to Muglad in South Kordofan.

• On 30 May, a staff member of the World Food Programme was released from captivity, having been held by unknown gunmen in Darfur for 86 days. The staff member was taken at gunpoint near his office in Nyala on 6 March.