Sudan foreign ministry refutes reports on ambassador statement ‘declaring war’ on Egypt

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced on Saturday news reports circulating statements by Sudanese ambassador to Cairo, Abdel-Mahmoud Abdel-Halim, who said his country intends to declare war on Egypt.

In a statement, the ministry accused the media, more specifically Russia Today, of altering Abdel-Halim’s statements and placing them out of context.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs completely refutes circulations that the Ambassador of Sudan to Cairo made these statements, and confirms that he never made such statements to any media institution,” the ministry’s spokesperson said.

“The ministry would like to point out that the ambassador was on a social occasion and was only explaining why he was summoned back to Sudan for discussions,” he added.

The statement also said that Sudan is keen on stable and peaceful relations with Egypt.

News outlets had reported that Abdel-Halim made the statements to journalists on Friday, saying “we are in the beginning of our road to democracy that starts with summoning the ambassador back for discussions, but you can also retract the ambassador without returning him, and third, you can kick out the ambassador from said country, fourth is to cut diplomatic ties and fifth is to declare war.”

Sudan had recalled its ambassador Abdel-Halim back to Khartoum early January ‘for consultation’ which was said to be due to disputes over the ownership of the Halayeb Triangle border area, and over the use of the water from the River Nile that passes through both territories.

Egypt is now assessing the situation in order to take the right measures, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a statement.

Source: Alarabiya