EU envoy allowed to complete stay in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Aug 25 (Reuters) Sudan will allow a European Union envoy it ordered out of the country to remain until his tenure expires next month, following an EU apology, a presidential adviser said today.

On Thursday the Sudanese foreign ministry expelled EU Commission ambassador Kent Degerfelt and acting Canadian charge d'affaires Nuala Lawlor for engaging in activities Sudan considered interference in its internal affairs.

In Brussels, the European Commission confirmed in a statement that Degerfelt's expulsion had been revoked and said it was satisfied the matter had been resolved positively.

President Omar al-Bashir's media advisor, Mahjoub Fadul, said the decision to allow Degerfelt to stay came after an apology from the EU.

''The president of the republic accepted the apology and agreed that the head of the EC delegation in Khartoum can stay until the end of his tenure, which expires in three weeks,'' Fadul said.

He declined to explain what activities the diplomats were involved in.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig said the diplomats had sent letters to the heads of Sudan's security and intelligence services about the detention of a prominent opposition politician.

''The Commission takes note of the government of Sudan's concern that the right channels of communication between diplomatic missions and the government of Sudan be used and expresses its satisfaction that it was possible to resolve this matter positively,'' the Commission said in the statement.

Sadig identified the detained politician as Mahmoud Hassanein from the Democratic Unionist Party.

Hassanein and 25 other people, including Mubarak al-Fadil, head of the opposition Umma Party for Reform and Renewal, are being detained in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

Sima Samar, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Sudan, said this month she was concerned about the arrests of opposition politicians and urged more transparency from the government.

The London-based rights group, Amnesty International, has also criticised the conditions of detention of some of the detainees.

Sudan has a history of difficult relations with Western diplomats whom it sometimes accuses of meddling with the country's internal affairs. Last year, it expelled Jan Pronk, the head of the UN mission in Sudan.

Sudan has been widely criticised for its counter-insurgency campaign in the western Darfur region.

REUTERS GT BD2030