Since President Bashir expelled over a dozen aid agencies this March, the humanitarian situation in Sudan has been illustrated by the remaining agencies scrambling to cover gaps. Even with three "new" aid groups being allowed to return, it is unclear whether the groups will be able to freely provide aid in a sustainable way. The Enough Project's John Norris explains:

"As has always been clear, Khartoum was willing to let three of the 13 groups return to work if they were rehatted under new names, a charade the international community apparently was willing to accept. Now Khartoum is expecting credit for its willingness to partially address a humanitarian crisis which it manufactured itself. Gration also insisted that aid capacity in Darfur was back up to nearly 100 percent of what it had been before Khartoum put so many lives at risk through its callous decision to expel aid groups. Lots of analysts, including the humanitarian chief at the U.N., have suggested that we are still well short of restoring previous aid capacity, and most aid groups still face a maze of restrictions that allow Khartoum to turn aid on and off at will."

President Bashir's ability to control humanitarian aid entry keeps the lives of over a million people in Darfur at risk. In reflecting on 20 years of Bashir's rule in Sudan, an op-ed in The Guardian reminds us that during his tenure he has "has waged two civil wars, taking the lives of more than 2.6 million people, and displaced a further 6.5 million; he has funded murderous rebel armies in Chad and Uganda; and most recently he has been indicted by the international criminal court for five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crime." The op-ed continues, urging "the UN and its member states to reflect on the horror and destruction he has brought to his country and not to allow the suffering of the Sudanese people to be forgotten. Only a coherent, concerted and consistent policy towards Bashir will deliver peace and justice to the people of Sudan."