Ken Caldwell, Save the Children UK’s director of international operations, said:

Thursday 5 March 2009

"Save the Children UK has received a letter from the Sudanese authorities asking us to suspend our operations in Sudan. This has very worrying implications for the 50,000 children we are currently supporting in Khartoum and the north-east of the country. These are some of Sudan’s most vulnerable children - many are living in camps having been forced to flee their homes by the ongoing conflict.  

"Save the Children UK is providing essential support to these children and their families, helping to protect them from abuse, get them access to clean water and get them back into school. We don’t know what the outcome of these developments will be, but we do know that if we are forced to stop our work the lives of thousands of children could be at risk."

Read the reaction from our news desk

Learn more about Save the Children's work in Sudan and Southern Sudan