SHARE with Friends
Sudan has rejected an offer by the United States to send Marines to increase security at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum, amid protesters and police clashing.
The announcement Saturday follows the United States saying it was sending Marines to Sudan to bolster security at the embassy, where Sudanese police reportedly fired on protestors trying to scale the compound walls.
“Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum and the state is committed to protecting its guests in the diplomatic corps,'' Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told the state news agency SUNA, which Reuters reported Saturday.
As a result, the deployment has been delayed and possibly curtailed, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
the official was not authorized to disclose details on the troop movement.
the official was not authorized to disclose details on the troop movement.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Sudan's government "has recommitted itself both publicly and privately to continue to protect our mission," as obligated under the Vienna Convention.
"We have requested additional security precautions as a result of … damage to our embassy,” she said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation closely to ensure we have what we need to protect our people and facility."
Demonstrators in Sudan stormed the German Embassy before moving on in buses to the U.S. Embassy, where police also reportedly used tear gas to stop them from scaling the walls. The protests reportedly are related to demonstrations across the Muslim world against an anti-Islam film.
The Marine unit, known as a fleet anti-terrorism security team, was to be sent as a precautionary measure, officials said.
Similar teams were sent to Libya on Wednesday after the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, and to Yemen on Friday.
The Marines are in Yemen to deal with the aftermath of another attack on the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Sanaa. They arrived in addition to an earlier contingent dispatched to Tripoli.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told Fox News the team being dispatched to Yemen also is a "precautionary measure."
Little repeated Saturday that a Marine platoon has been deployed to Tripoli but corrected his statement Thursday that a Marine security detachment was at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli on the day of the attack in Benghazi.
“I wanted to correct the record as soon as I learned that my statement was inaccurate,” he said. “I apologize for this error and any confusion it may have caused.”
Protestors reportedly jumped over U.S. Embassy walls in both Sudan and Tunisia. At least three people have been reported dead and another 28 have been wounded during the Tunisia attack. And protesters set fire to trees and broke windows inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunis, according to Reuters.
A senior U.S. official told Fox News that Tunisian security forces "have responded effectively" so far to the incident.
That is just a snapshot of the violent unrest playing out Friday, in the widest protests yet across the Muslim world.
SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS
GET FREE UPDATES
Still can't find What you are looking for?
SEARCH BELOW
RELATED POST
No comments:
Post a Comment