Sudan to close its embassy in Baghdad - official

[cal04]

to free Hostages)

Sudan said on Friday it would shut its embassy in Baghdad, a day after al Qaeda in Iraq said it had kidnapped five Sudanese embassy staff last week and demanded that Khartoum cut its ties with Baghdad within 48 hours.
"Sudan has decided to close its diplomatic mission in Iraq and to withdraw its diplomatic staff," Jamal Ibrahim, the Sudanese foreign ministry's spokesman, told Reuters by telephone. He had no further comment.

Al Qaeda in Iraq said on Thursday it was behind the abduction of the Sudanese embassy staff, including a diplomat, according to a Web statement. A video posted with the statement showed five men identifying themselves as embassy staff.

"I call on the Sudanese government to carry out the demand ... to withdraw the diplomatic mission," said a man who identified himself as Abdul-Munem Mohammed al-Houri, the embassy's second secretary. The Sudanese foreign ministry said last Friday that six Sudanese men, including the embassy's second secretary, had been kidnapped in Baghdad after attending Muslim prayers. The al Qaeda in Iraq group said in the Web statement it gave "the Sudanese government 48 hours to announce in a clear way ... that it was severing relations with the (Iraqi) government and closing its embassy in Baghdad".


http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=6353693&cKey=1135970432000

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17698651%255E1702,00.html

[sabra]

1. remember, Cheney said "last throes"

[eleny]

2. They might as well

The Iraqi government isn't worth losing citizens over. Who knows how long this government will last given that Iraq is in a civil war for chrissakes.