Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was summoned to meet with the authorities shortly after the International Criminal Court (ICC) announcement regarding the indictment of Sudan's President Omar el-Bashir and told that it must cease all activities and prepare staff for immediate departure from the country. No further explanation for the decision was given. The Dutch section of MSF runs medical activities in three sites in South Darfur, in the areas of Kalma, Muhajariya and Feina.

This expulsion comes at a time when meningitis, a deadly disease if left untreated, has broken out in Kalma Camp, a temporary home to more than 90,000 internally displaced persons. It also leaves an estimated 70,000 people without any access to healthcare in Muhajariya due to the closure of the area’s only hospital, and forces the closure of health clinics in and around Feina, where MSF treats an average of 3,000 people each month.

MSF firmly reiterates that the organisation is completely independent of the ICC, and that MSF does not cooperate or provide any information to it.

"It is absurd that we, as an independent and impartial organization, have been caught up in a political and judicial process," said Arjan Hehenkamp, Operational Director of MSF in Holland. "MSF has worked tirelessly to deliver medical aid to the people of Darfur since the beginning of the crisis. It is completely unacceptable that the people of Darfur are being deprived of essential medical care."