Medical charity Doctors Without Borders-Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced today that its Belgium-based section is ending all activities in Sudan due to what it termed as restrictions by the country's authorities.

MSF-Belgium said in a press release that it had been trying to provide medical care to people in three conflict affected areas, "but total denial of access to Blue Nile State, forced closure of activities in East Darfur State, and administrative obstacles and blockages in South Darfur State have made it impossible for MSF to respond to medical emergencies in these areas."

“Whether we ask for access through dialogue and meetings, seek negotiations through influential partners to the government, or speak out in media, nothing seems to have the slightest impact,” said Dr Bart Janssens, Director of Operations for MSF in Brussels, Belgium.

“Our experience is that the Sudanese government arranges meetings specifically to prevent international aid, rather than to facilitate it. We have drawn the desperately sad conclusion that under the current circumstances, we cannot do emergency and life-saving work in three major conflict-affected parts of Sudan where we are desperately needed," he continued.

In its press release, MSF listed a series of restrictions on the group's movement.

In Blue Nile, MSF complained of continued denial of access to the entire state including during a "well-documented health catastrophe" in 2011 and 2012 that forced 100,000 people into South Sudan.

In the East Darfur town of Shaeria, MSF staff were arrested and removed from the area with no explanation in December 2012, the group said, forcing the closure of a hospital and mobile clinic.

Further, MSF said that authorities blocked them from sending emergency specialists to the El Sereif displaced person's camp near Nyala, South Darfur following an outbreak of violence in March and April 2014.

Dr Janssens said that high level Sudanese authorities "made it clear that humanitarian assistance to populations most affected by conflict in Blue Nile State and southern areas of Darfur will continue to be blocked and restricted."

MSF noted that it began providing free medical care to Sudanese citizens in 1979. Besides the Belgium-based section of the group, MSF-Paris recently suspended work in South Kordofan following the bombing of its hospital in the state.

According to the UN, 6.9 million people in Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance, MSF said.

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