Sudan says willing to admit new NGOs

By Yara Bayoumy

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said on Wednesday it would "not close the door" to foreign aid organizations that want to operate in the largest country in Africa but a decision to expel 13 international NGOs was non-negotiable.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir expelled those aid groups after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest in March on charges of masterminding war crimes in Darfur. Sudan accused the aid groups of helping build the charges against Bashir.

"For the expelled 13 NGOs, this is history. It's finished. But this decision ... does not close the door for any new NGOs -- American, British, French ... with new names, with new logos," said Hassabo Mohamed Abd el-Rahman, the head of Sudan's state Humanitarian Aid Commission.

"Any new NGOs that fulfil the criteria are most welcome," he told reporters at the airport after welcoming U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes to Sudan on Wednesday. "I can assure you that there are many applications being processed."

"We're working on the capacity-building of national NGOs, the Sudanization... Sudanization does not mean that we close the door for foreign aid," Abd el-Rahman said.

Some 4.7 million people rely on humanitarian aid in Darfur. The U.N.'s NGO partners gave out food aid, monitored for disease outbreaks and provided clean water and health care across the area which is roughly the size of France.

Sudan has said Sudanese groups have been filling the gaps left by the expelled groups and there is no problem with aid distribution.

Holmes said the expulsion had left "serious capacity gaps."