Catherine Stihler, Scottish Labour MEP

Mr President,

The situation in Darfur is desperate.

Can you imagine the human suffering behind the United Nations (UN) statistics? According to the UN, up to 4.7 million people, including 2.7 million internally displaced persons, are in need of assistance.

We cannot allow the situation to deteriorate even more and I urge the Sudanese government to step back from their decision to expel 13 leading non-governmental organisations from Darfur.

The aid agencies in Darfur run the largest humanitarian operation in the world.

Their departure could lead to even more loss of life due to the break in medical services and outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as diarrhoea and respiratory infections. Children are greatly at risk. The United Nations has said kicking out the humanitarian groups puts more than one million lives at risk.

I stress the overriding humanitarian need to allow the agencies to continue with their life-saving work.

As President Obama said, "It is not acceptable to put that many people's lives at risk. We need to be able to get those humanitarian organisations back on the ground."

I urge colleagues to support this resolution.