On 23 June, the Sudanese government formally withdrew from the 2005 amendments to the EU's Cotonou Partnership Agreement with the African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) states, which governs development cooperation between the two blocs. The decision was motivated by the stipulation that "The parties shall seek to take steps towards ratifying and implementing the Rome Statute [on the International Criminal Court (ICC)] and related instruments." The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir last year on charges of war crimes in the Darfur conflict.

The deputy ambassador to the EU Hamdi Hasab Al-Rasoul also stated that Sudan objected to the emphasis in the amendments on the promotion of contraception in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Following Sudan's withdrawal from the amendments, the country may be immediately denied access to 300 million euro in aid. NGO network Aprodev was "extremely concerned" that aid would be denied to areas of Sudan where it is desperately needed because of the actions of the central government in Khartoum.

Rosan Smits from the Dutch agency ICCO (a member of Aprodev) said: "What is needed now is for European governments to work together to find another way to channel aid to poor people in Sudan. This will require political will from EU member states and a strong lead from the European Commission on the legal aspects of this problem. If this is not done one of the poorest countries in the world will suffer a major drop in development aid."

Sources:

• http://www.reliefweb.net
• Interchurch Organisation for Development Co-operation (ICCO)