SUDAN:The UN's most senior humanitarian official in south Darfur has been expelled from the war-torn state, becoming the 11th aid worker forced out of his job this year.
Aid agencies say they face growing bureaucracy and hostility from a government waging war on its civilian population.
Wael al-Haj Ibrahim, head of the UN's Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), was responsible for overseeing aid deliveries to a million people. Sudanese officials accused him of inciting people living in aid camps against the government, claims dismissed by colleagues and other aid workers.
They say he was targeted because of UN protests at forced removals of civilians from aid camps last month.
UN officials said they had seen troops and police rounding up about 1,000 people from Otash camp, home to about 60,000 on the outskirts of Nyala, and forcing them onto trucks.
Mr al-Haj Ibrahim arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday after being given 48 hours to leave Nyala.
More than four million people are reliant on aid in Darfur after 4½ years of a conflict that has killed 200,000.
But humanitarian agencies that speak out have found themselves under intense scrutiny and smeared in state-owned media.
Two senior figures with Care International, including its country director, were expelled earlier this year.
Aid workers also fear the Zoe's Ark affair in Chad - where 10 Europeans remain in detention accused of trying to smuggle 103 children out of the country - could give the Sudanese government an excuse to further hamper efforts in Darfur.
Orla Clinton, Ocha spokeswoman, said the agency was backing Mr al-Haj Ibrahim.
"It is very important to ensure a consistent and timely response. We cannot afford to have gaps at this critical time," she said.
Dr James Smith, of the Aegis Trust for genocide prevention, said Mr al-Haj Ibrahim had been forced out for doing his job.
"He was resisting a policy that amounts to further ethnic cleansing of Darfur's African population. With no security to allow them to return home and rebuild, forced removal of the IDPs (internally displaced persons) from the camps gives their inhabitants no choice but to leave the region or die," Dr Smith said.