Sudan’s foreign ministry has denied calling for expulsion of Sudanese businessmen from South Sudan and pointed instead to the need to implement the ‘four freedoms’ agreement between the two countries.

Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Rahmatallah Mohamed Osman speaking to members of the diplomatic corps in Khartoum denied that his boss had asked President Kiir to oust Sudanese traders who are doing business in South Sudan.

He was referring to remarks attributed to Foreign Minister Ali Karti by the South Sudanese president. During a speech last Tuesday on the occasion of the graduation ceremony of the first batch of the immigration and nationality officers, President Salva Kiir claimed that Sudanese authorities asked for the expulsion of the Sudanese traders from South Sudan, during the visit of a Sudanese delegation headed by its foreign minister.

Rahmatallah clarified that the foreign minister was only talking about the presence of business enterprises owned by Sudanese rebels in South Sudan, which are offering logistic supports to the rebels in the battlefields in three Sudanese regions bordering South Sudan.

The foreign minister was not referring more broadly to all Sudanese traders, he clarified. He pointed out that they are seeking to adopt the four freedoms agreement signed between the two countries as well as the resumption of the border trade between Juba and Khartoum.

File photo: Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti