A/HRC/6/19 page 78 Written information submitted to the group of experts on Darfur on 21 August 2007 A mechanism was created in March 2007 to monitor inflows of humanitarian aid in accordance with the above-mentioned Joint Communiqué signed between the Government of the Sudan and the United Nations. Two visits were paid to the states of Darfur, the first on 21-23 April 2007 and the second on 29-30 July 2007. Six meetings were held with foreign voluntary organizations. As a result, all obstacles on the ground were removed. Information orally submitted to the group of experts on 18 September 2007 A high level committee jointly chaired by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the Deputy Representative of the Secretary General of the UN in the Sudan and composed of Government officials, UN and NGOs, and donors has been set up and meet on a monthly basis. A technical committee coordinates governmental humanitarian assistance and has visited Darfur 6 times. State level and local technical committees at field level were created. There are 258 agencies active in Darfur involving 900 staff in 2003. In 2007, there were 15,853 workers in Darfur. Regarding visas for humanitarian workers, the Sudanese Delegation assured the group of experts on Darfur that it did not have a single pending visa application. The joint committee is authorized to review any pending visa applications, but thus far, there have been none. In regard to the expulsions of certain humanitarian aid workers, the Government stated that it had its own reasons for these actions. Information Received from Other Sources on Recommendation 2.1.2 As regards the implementation of the Joint Communiqué, the UN reported in November, that progress has been made so far in its implementation and, in general, a good working relationship between international NGOs and the HAC (Humanitarian Aid Commission of the Government of Sudan) in addressing bureaucratic procedures in Darfur has developed. Regarding visas for humanitarian workers, the Government assured the group of experts that it did not have a single case regarding pending visa applications. At the same time, the group learnt that the UN had received complaints alleging violations of the letter and spirit of the Joint Communiqué, in particular that the Government had refused to extend visas for some NGO expatriate staff to remain in the country. The UN reported in November that only 29% of the total procedures handled by the Joint Procedures Centre were resolved on schedule. In late August 2007, the Government of the Sudan expelled the Country Director of CARE, Paul Barker and in early November the head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for South Darfur, Wael al-Haj Ibrahim. Mr. Ibrahim was reported to be the 11th aid worker expelled from Sudan since the beginning of this year. As regards humanitarian access, the group received information that humanitarian services continued to be provided to the vast majority of conflict-affected civilians. The WFP, for example, provided food to an average of 3.2 million people during the third quarter of 2007. However, the number of beneficiaries not reached rose from 60,000 in July to 122,000 in September. One reason for this was reportedly denial of access by the Government. In Nertiti (Jebel Marra), the Government Security Committee suspended all humanitarian movement into