Sudan closes Washington embassy for lack of bank to hold its accounts

KHARTOUM, Aug 25, 2004 (SUNA) — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed the Embassy of Sudan in Washington to close its offices as of this week.

The ministry attributed in a statement it issued Wednesday the closure to retreat of a US bank from its commitment to open an account for the embassy, a matter that affected the financial commitments of the embassy towards its employees and other services such as electricity and telecommunications.

The statement said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would give a specific time to the US authorities to solve the problem.

The statement explained that the Embassy of Sudan had been dealing for 30 years with a known American bank in Washington as regards its accounts and transfers, explaining that the said bank decided last June to close the account of the embassy among tthat of other embassies.

The embassy tried in vain to open a new account in another bank in Washington, after that it resorted to the US State Department in a number of times seeking help. The State Department has remained making promises to the embassy since June, without concrete results, the statement said, adding consequently the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised the embassy to close its offices.

The statement went on to say that the US State Department then made some contacts with a bank to open an account for the embassy, pointing out that when the embassy attempted to deal with the new bank, it began to retreat from its commitment to open an account for the embassy.