This is a blog in three parts. Here's the second. Read the first part here.

Aid groups make tough trade-offs to save lives

Compromise is a core element of humanitarian response, almost as fundamental as values like independence, neutrality and humanity. Saving lives means making trade-offs.

The questions aid workers face on a daily basis include: how closely should you work with a government you suspect - or know - is causing more humanitarian need than it's providing for? What's an acceptable amount of danger for your staff?

How much siphoning off of aid should you ignore? Which donor countries can you take money from and still claim to be independent? Exactly what and how loudly should you say to the world on government culpability in humanitarian crimes, knowing your organisation could be expelled, threatening the lives of those you profess to help?

Humanitarian action in Darfur is the ultimate test of how far organisations are willing to compromise to do the work of saving lives.

It's not that they're unaware of the truth - a truth that's not black and white as often painted by both the West and Sudan, but where ever-splintering rebel groups have been just as responsible as government-backed forces for much of the insecurity and violence of the past few years.

Yet, despite this, I've not met an international aid worker who has been on the ground in Darfur and does not lay the bulk of the blame for the death and misery squarely at the door of the Sudanese government and its proxies.

Let's examine the government's ever-narrowing denials in recent years:

1. The Janjaweed do not exist. These are Arab militias protecting their people.

2. The militias are not organised, or funded, or supported by the government.

3. The militias do not fight alongside government forces.

4. The militias have not been integrated into Sudan's regular forces.

5. The militias do not commit the bulk of human rights violations, including rape (which have hardly happened, according to the government).

6. The militias are not responsible, either directly or indirectly, for the bulk of the 300,000 dead.

7. The number killed by conflict, starvation and disease is not around 300,000, as the United Nations and others claim, but only 10,000.

The reality is like a theatrical farce: the NGOs know the truth about what's happening, the government knows the NGOs know, the NGOs know the government knows they know - you get the picture.

As long as aid groups continue to do the live-saving humanitarian work that should really be done by the Sudanese authorities, and keep any temoignage buried in policy papers or limited to expat-only debates, the government stays happy.

In fact it's perfect for them, as it could be argued that humanitarian intervention permits the government to carry on with its Darfur policy while giving NGOs just enough space to pick up the pieces.

Whether or not the Sudanese government is able to fill the gaps opened up by the overnight removal of agencies doing at least 40 percent of the humanitarian work in Darfur, its decision to kick them out casts doubt on its claim to have Darfuris' best interests at heart.

Even if we put aside the alleged corruption and negligence inside the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission, it has always been quite clear the government does not care about all the people of Darfur.

The provision of aid has been met with government obstacles at every step - from strategic opposition such as the long-delayed acceptance of a strengthened U.N. peacekeeping force, to the daily harassment of aid groups, the delay in issuing visas and travel permits, the refusal of access to certain areas and the interception of much-needed supplies.

Moreover, we should remember that, rather than handing over to the ICC the man the court has accused of managing 'relations' with the Arab militias over funding and policy (Ahmed Mohammed Haroun - ironically, the minister of state for humanitarian affairs), the Sudanese president made him responsible for investigating human rights abuses in Darfur. Even the fox was never asked to investigate his own attacks on chicken.

In Darfur, it seems that the level of aid agency compromise has been matched only by government cynicism.

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