LONDON -- Foreign Office officials told the Sudanese charge d'affaires in Britain Friday to tell his government to reconsider immediately its decision to expel the British ambassador if it valued its relationship with Britain.
Sir Michael Burton, British undersecretary of state for the Middle East, told the Sudanese charge d'affaires, Abdue Rahman Bakhit, of the British government's anger and regret at the expulsion of Ambassador Peter Streams. Burton demanded a full explanation.
Bakhit's explanation was considered to be wholly inadequate, a Foreign Office spokesman said. Bakhit claimed his government had asked Streams to leave Sudan within the next two weeks because of his contacts with Sudanese opposition figures and because he obstructed attempts to improve the relationship between Britain and Sudan.
The decision by the Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey to decline an official invitation by the Sudanese government and visit Christian rebel-held areas in southern Sudan independently is widely believed to have sparked off the row.
Bakhit, however, said the archbishop's decision to cancel his visit to the capital Khartoum was only part of the reason for the ambassador's expulsion.
A civil war has been raging in southern Sudan pitting the Muslim fundamentalist government in the north against the Christian population in the south. Britain has criticized Sudan's government on numerous occasions for actions considered to be human rights violations.
The archbishop flew into southern Sudan Thursday night from Nairobi, Kenya, for a four-day visit to a number of refugee camps near the Ugandan border.
He confirmed in public Friday that the arrangements for his visit were his own decision, a Foreign Office spokesman said.
The British government has given Khartoum until Tuesday to reconsider its move.
A Foreign Office spokesman said the British government would refrain from further action until then, but the expulsion of the Sudanese ambassador to Britain could not be ruled out in future.
