The Sudan Tribune has an interesting article on the fallout of the NGO expulsions on North-South political dynamics in Sudan. By including on the black list NGOs working in the ‘Three Areas’ of northern Sudan with special status in the CPA (Abyei, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile), it appears that Bashir and friends may have rattled senior leaders in the SPLM. And when you look at the accusations leveled against some of the major international NGOs in a Sudanese newspaper, which Michael Kleinman has posted, it’s no surprise why. Per the Sudanese government, Mercy Corps’ community development program in Abyei is actually designed “to create sedition among the people of Abyei Dinka and Missiriya bias by holding workshops and abetting the Dinka people of the region to create chaos.” I doubt that SPLM shares this view.
Although the SPLM has thus far tended to toe the government line on the issue of the International Criminal Court, this could be the beginning of a shift. As John Prendergast said in the Christian Science Monitor, "The further the crisis escalates in Darfur, the more at risk it places the north-south peace deal." Hopefully, both Sudanese and international actors will seize the moment to address and minimize those risks before they run the CPA off the rails. China, for one, is essentially doing the opposite, as Enough’s John Norris recently pointed out.