Libya declares Sudanese diplomats persona no grata

By Wasil Ali

Feb 10, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Libya has declared a number of Sudanese diplomats as persona non grata and requested them to leave its territory, a Sudanese newspaper reported.

According to the Sudanese daily al-Ray al-Aam the Libyan authorities have ordered Sudan’s Consul General and other members of the embassy’s staff to leave the country within seven days. A Libyan source told the daily that this measure is not related to the recent deterioration in relations between the two countries.

Expatriate Sudanese workers claim that Sudan’s consulates aboard are occupied by Sudanese security service officers.

Last month Tripoli has suspended the transfer of 50 million US dollars to finance the African Union peacekeeping forces operating in the troubled Darfur region and blamed the Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for his negative attitude towards it, and to some of its neighbors recently.

The expulsion of the Sudanese diplomats is the latest in a series of setbacks in the relationship between the two countries. Libya has opposed Sudan’s African Union presidency in the summit held in Adis Abbaba last month which apparently angered Khartoum. It is believed that Sudanese presidential adviser Nafie Ali Nafie was referring to Libya when he warned neighboring countries not be a “gate to colonial powers”.

(ST)