The United States has begun the evacuation of staff from its embassy in Sudan. The U.S. embassy in Khartoum said it has permitted non-essential staffers to leave Sudan amid the threat of a crackdown by President Omar al-Bashir, who the International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered to be arrested on war crimes.

Diplomatic sources said the departure of embassy staffers began on Tuesday.

“The Department of State has authorized the departure of non-emergency personnel and family members at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum until further notice,” the U.S. embassy said.

Mr. al-Bashir has warned of the expulsion of diplomats in wake of the ICC warrant. Most Western embassies, amid a threat by an Islamic coalition to kill 250 people, have increased security.

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The United States urged Americans not to visit Sudan. The embassy, citing the assassination of two staffers in January 2008, reported “terrorist threats” against U.S. and European interests.

“The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Sudan and recommends that American citizens defer all travel to Sudan due to uncertain security conditions following the expulsion of NGOs (non-government organizations) as well as harassment of humanitarian aid workers, employees of non-governmental organizations, and Westerners in general,” the embassy said.

The embassy said the al-Bashir regime has seized the finances and assets of foreign and local NGOs as well as the passports and laptop computers of staffers. Mr. al-Bashir has also been organizing anti-Western protests.

“There is a continuing possibility that ongoing protests may encourage violent action against Europeans and Americans,” the embassy said. “U.S. citizens should be prepared to leave Sudan in the event of an emergency, given the volatile political/security environment.”

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

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David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.