US wary of Sudan expulsion of diplomats

August 23, 2007 (CRAWFORD, Texas) — The White House said Thursday that it hoped Sudan’s expulsion of diplomats from Canada and Europe was not an attempt to sidetrack international efforts to quell violence in Darfur.

“The Sudanese have a history of doing this sort of thing to try and thwart the will of the international community,” spokesman Gordon Johndroe said after Khartoum expelled the European Commission envoy and the Canadian charge d’affaires.

“I hope that that would not be the case today with these expulsions, and hope that they are still planning on complying with their obligations to the UN Security Council,” Johndroe told reporters.

Sudan expelled the diplomats for “interfering in its affairs,” the official SUNA news agency reported Thursday, although the precise reasons for their expulsion were not immediately clear.

Khartoum has often had strained relations with Western diplomats.

In October 2006, it expelled UN envoy Jan Pronk for criticizing its actions in the troubled region of Darfur.

The war in the western Sudanese region erupted in February 2003 when rebels from minority tribes took up arms to demand an equal share of national resources, prompting a heavyhanded crackdown from the government forces and proxy militia.

According to UN estimates, at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced by the combined effect of war and famine since the conflict erupted.

(AFP)