Sudan expels EU and Canadian envoys for meeting with opposition

By Wasil Ali

August 23, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government said it expelled the European Union and Canadian envoys for holding contacts with opposition members.

Ali Karti, Sudanese Minister of State at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry told Al-Jazeera news channel that the two diplomats called security services “regarding an issue that could have been handled in a way that does not contradict the diplomatic traditions of the foreign ministry”.

Sudan has announced the expulsion of the European Commission envoy and the Canadian charge d’affaires for “interfering in its affairs,” the official SUNA news agency reported Thursday.

Karti said that the envoys were seeking release of opposition figures arrested over an alleged coup attempt describing it as “flagrant interference.”

The Sudanese official specifically referred to Mahmoud Hassanein, a prominent opposition leader from the Democratic Unionist Party who remains in custody.

“It is necessary now to send a clear message to whoever thinks that the kind of relationship between Sudan and the United Nations, and the international community in general, is that of submissiveness, complacence about the concepts or beliefs that the Westerners want the Sudanese Government to admit as fait accompli” Karti added.

The London based Al-Hayat newspaper, quoting unidentified Sudanese officials, said that the government was angered over contacts made by the two envoys with Darfur rebels, opposition figures and NGO’s considered by Khartoum to be a cover for dissidents.

The officials said that the Sudanese government has indirectly warned the two diplomats twice before on those activities.

Last year Sudan expelled Jan Pronk, the UN Secretary General special representative to Sudan for what they described as “exceeding his mandate”.

(ST)