Sudan denies refusing to receive Qatar’s foreign minister

April 18, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan Foreign Ministry has denied reports that the Transitional Military Council refused to receive a Qatari delegation headed by the foreign minister.

The Saudi-funded Alarabiya TV reported Wednesday that Sudan had refused to receive a delegation led by Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and that he returned to Doha after arriving in Khartoum.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to deny the news broadcast by one of the satellite channels that Sudan refused to receive a Qatari delegation headed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs,” said statement released on Thursday in Khartoum.

The ministry further said that the arrangements are being made for a visit of a high-level Qatari delegation to Khartoum.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Qatar and imposed an economic boycott on the tiny Gulf state, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and Iran. But Qatar denies the charges.

The former President Omer al-Bashir refused to cut ties with Qatar when he was asked to join the anti-Qatari coalition.

(ST)