"I was never given any written expulsion order, despite my repeated
requests," Ms. Aly, a Canadian-Egyptian national, said. "I was simply
harassed, and was counselled by someone in government that if I did not
leave I would be arrested. The reason they gave me was that I was asking
about arms. But they told me the line they would use publicly was that I
didn't have my work papers."
In late 2008, Ms. Aly reported on military procurement by the autonomous
government in southern Sudan. She asserted that main battle tanks, armored
personnel carriers, rocket-propelled grade launchers, mortars and assault
rifles were pouring into southern Sudan while the Khartoum regime was
receiving fighter-jets from China and the former East Bloc.
Sudan has cracked down on dissent as well as on the independent media
amid deliberations by the International Criminal Court to prosecute
President Omar Bashir. ICC was expected to decide on whether to issue an
arrest warrant against Bashir, accused of genocide in Darfour, by March
2009.
Over the last year, Western diplomats said, Sudan has increased military
and defense cooperation with such countries as China, Iran and Russia. They
said the Bashir regime was preparing its military for campaigns in Darfour
as well as in southern Sudan.