Sudan expels Western diplomats

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudan has expelled European and Canadian diplomats for "interfering in its affairs," a move that could further strain relations with the West.

The White House reacted to Sudan's announcement on Friday saying it hoped it was not an attempt to sidetrack international efforts to end the conflict in Darfur, which Washington has termed genocidal.

"Sudan has summoned the envoy of the European Commission and the Canadian charge d'affaires and informed them they were considered persona non grata because they interfered in Sudanese affairs," Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadek told the official SUNA news agency.

The exact reasons for their expulsion were not immediately clear.

"The Sudanese have a history of doing this sort of thing to try and thwart the will of the international community," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

"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.

Canada demanded an explanation from Khartoum.

"We have asked them why they expelled our charge d'affaires," foreign ministry spokesman Rodney Moore, who identified the diplomat as Nuala Lawlor, told AFP.

"Mrs Lawlor, in the best tradition of Canadian diplomacy, defended our values of freedom, democracy, personal rights and the rule of law," Moore said.

The European Commission named the EU's head of delegation in Khartoum as Kent Degerfeld and confirmed that its office in Khartoum had received a letter.

"We are aware of the situation and we are seeking to resolve it," a commission spokeswoman said in a statement.

The Sudanese foreign ministry said Khartoum was working hard not to let the incident hamper ties with the European Union or Canada although Khartoum has often had strained relations with Western diplomats.

In October 2006, it expelled UN envoy Jan Pronk for criticising its actions during the more than four-year conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

The war 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 government forces and its proxy militia the Janjaweed.

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.

Meanwhile, rights group Amnesty International on Thursday charged that Sudan was continuing to defy a UN arms embargo, based on photographs it said were taken in July at an airport in Darfur.

"The Sudanese government is still deploying weapons into Darfur in breathtaking defiance of the UN arms embargo and Darfur peace agreements," the London based group said.

Amnesty said the first of the photos, sent to them by witnesses in Darfur, showed Sudanese soldiers unloading containers from an aircraft to military trucks.

The aircraft was operated by a transport firm which was under investigation by the United Nations, it said. The two others showed helicopters supplied to the Sudanese air force by the Russian military at the same airport.

The UN imposed an embargo on the sale and delivery of arms to Darfur in July 2004 which was extended in March 2005.

Amnesty has already accused Sudan of violating the embargo in a report in May and said the Sudanese government was launching air raids on civilians in Darfur.