Libya releases Sudanese diplomat after brief detention

April 9, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s foreign ministry announced that its consul general in the Libyan city of Benghazi, Abdel Halim Omer, was freed after being detained by authorities there on Wednesday.

The ministry’s spokesman Ali al-Sadiq told Sudan news agency (SUNA) that the diplomat made statements to local media after his release condemning remarks by Libyan Undersecretary of foreign affairs Hassan al-Sagheer in which he accused him of conducting “suspicious and illegal tours” in East Libyan areas without permission.

Khartoum had asserted that Omer was visiting a Libyan jail to inspect Sudanese citizens imprisoned there without charges to provide consular and legal assistance.

But al-Sagheer told Turkey’s Anadoul news agency that the diplomat’s visit to the prison he named as Garnada drew suspicions of officials there because it is a military facility and a vital one.

The Libyan envoy in Khartoum was summoned yesterday to the foreign ministry to demand the diplomat’s release and to condemn this incident as a violation of international law. He was also queried on the apparent targeting of Sudanese diplomats working in Libya.

Late last March, an unknown group had detained the economic attaché at the Sudanese embassy in Libya for two weeks.

Sudan has been accused of supporting Libya’s Islamist militias that are currently in control of Tripoli.

Last September, Libya’s internationally recognized prime minister Abdullah al-Thinni said Sudan had attempted to airlift weapons and ammunition to the new rulers in Tripoli.

But Khartoum insist that the shipment contained supplies destined to joint Libyan-Sudanese border forces.

(ST)