Sudan today expelled the directors of two British charities, saying their press comments about renewed violence in Darfur were an interference in the country's internal affairs.

The expulsion order accused Save the Children UK and Oxfam International of sending "signals of support" to rebels.

The expulsion was a reminder of past difficulties between aid workers and Sudan’s touchy and defensive Government, which kept international groups out of Darfur for more than a year after violence erupted there.

Jan Pronk, the chief UN envoy for Sudan, has pressed the government to reverse its order and is awaiting a response, said UN spokeswoman Radhia Achouri.

"We are very concerned about this action, particularly given the role of the two NGOs in question," she said.

"They were among the first to make it to Darfur and have played a major role in alleviating the suffering of people in Darfur and across Sudan. We do believe they have a tremendous role to play and need to be maintained in Sudan."

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said recent press releases by the two organizations had breached the law on nonintervention in the country’s political, ethnic or sectarian issues.

"It has been decided to consider you persona non grata for the management of your organization in Sudan," read the identical expulsion letters.

"Therefore, you must leave the country within 48 hours, as of the date of this decision."

Kate Haiff, Sudan country director for Save the Children UK, declined to comment on the order, and Oxfam officials in Khartoum could not be reached.

In Britain, the headquarters of both agencies confirmed the country directors had received expulsion orders and said they were seeking clarification.

The Sudanese government has a history of tension with aid groups, which have previously accused Khartoum of unnecessarily restricting access to the displaced people in Darfur, the western region of Sudan. A rebellion by indigenous peoples there there has provoked a counter-insurgency campaign, by Goverment-backed nomadic fighters, that has killed thousands of people and displaced about 1.8 million inhabitants.

Although the rebellion began in February 2003, the Government did not ease restrictions on aid groups until May 2004, citing security reasons.

Aid groups now in Darfur have reported this month on a fresh outbreak of violence that followed a cease-fire agreement between rebels and the government on November 9.

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs singled out three press releases that it said interfered in Sudanese domestic matters and should have instead been handled through the government rather than through the media.

"The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs views the statements issued by those two organizations as sending signals of support to the outlaws and rebels for continuation of the war," the ministry said in a press release carried by the official Sudan News Agency.

A statement by Oxfam on November 19 condemned a UN Security Council resolution for its "weakness" on Darfur, while another on November 22 called on the European Union to exert pressure on Sudan to stop the violence.

"Rejecting the resolutions of the UN Security Council that calls for peace realisation in Sudan simply means that organisation wants the continuation of war in Darfur," the ministry said.

It also said that calling for EU pressure on Sudan was "sending signals to the rebels to continue war."

The ministry also referred to a November 21 press release by Save the Children UK that accused the government of bombing a site in the North Darfur town of Tawilla without first waiting for confirmation from African Union cease-fire monitors. It said the aid group’s report of both sides breaking the cease-fire did not distinguish between the rebels and the police who were protecting civilians.

Oxfam has been working throughout north Sudan for 20 years and on Saturday the influential governor of North Darfur state praised the agency's work in the country. Save the Children is one of the largest food distributors in Darfur, providing food to more than 300,000 of the almost 2 million in need of aid.

After years of tribal clashes over diminishing land and water resources in arid Darfur, rebels took up arms early last year accusing Khartoum of neglect and of arming marauding Arab militia, known as the Janjawid, to loot and burn non-Arab villages.

The United Nations says the violence, dubbed genocide by the United States, has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

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