Sudanese demonstrate against the US and Israeli governments in the aftermath of the bombing by Tel Aviv of a weapons factory. Relations between Israel and Sudan have worsened over the years., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Sudan says supports Hamas despite Israel's "aggression"
Sun, Nov 4 2012
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan will not stop supporting Palestinian group Hamas despite Israeli "aggression," a senior Sudanese official said on Sunday, less than two weeks after Khartoum accused Israel of bombing an arms plant in the Sudanese capital.
Israel accuses Sudan of channeling weapons from Iran to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, via Egypt's Sinai desert. Sudan denies the charge but often expresses sympathy for Hamas in its conflict with Israel.
A blast at Khartoum's Yarmouk arms factory last month drew new attention to the accusations after Sudan said an Israeli air strike was behind the explosion. Israel has not commented on the blast.
On Sunday, Sudan's Second Vice President al-Haj Adam Youssef said the incident would not stop Sudan supporting Hamas, whose officials have often visited Khartoum in the past, state radio reported in a text message sent to mobile phones.
"We declare our support for Hamas ... Israel's aggression has not scared us," the message quoted him as saying.
A visit by two Iranian warships to a Sudanese port last week highlighted military ties between the two countries, and prompted speculation the stay was related to the arms factory blast. Sudan denied this, saying the visit was "routine."
Israel has declined to admit or deny involvement in a string of explosions in Sudan that the government has blamed on Israeli air strikes in recent years.
In May, Khartoum said a blast in Port Sudan that killed one person resembled an explosion in 2011 it accused Israel of carrying out. Israel did not comment on those blasts, or on a similar incident in eastern Sudan in 2009.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz and Khalid Abdelaziz; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
2012-11-05 - 13:08
Sudan: West Magnifying Tehran-Khartoum Ties to Scare Persian Gulf States
TEHRAN (FNA)- Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Kerti deplored the western countries' media hype about the ties between Sudan and Iran, and said the western states' unreal propaganda about these relations is meant to intimidate the Arab Persian Gulf states.
"The relations between Sudan and Iran are not harmful to the interests of the Persian Gulf littoral states and the western states are just exaggerating and magnifying these relations," Kerti told Sudan's Blue Nile Channel.
He said that Sudan is ready to brief the Persian Gulf states on its ties with Iran.
Last week, Kerti categorically denied any link between the presence of the two Iranian warships in Port Sudan and the recent Israeli aggression on Al-Yarmouk Military Industrial Complex in Khartoum.
Kerti said at the time that the docking of the two Iranian warships in Port Sudan was no secret, but it was not related to the Israeli attack on Al-Yarmouk Military Industrial Complex.
The Iranian Navy's 22nd fleet of warships docked in Port Sudan last Monday.
Later, Tehran announced that the mission of the Iranian flotilla was no way related to the Yarmouk incident, but that the warships have been dispatched to Sudan to defend the security of the regional states against Israeli threats.
The Iranian navy flotilla is comprised of Khark warship and Shahid Naqdi Destroyer. Khark has 250 crewmembers and can carry three helicopters.
According to a report by the Navy's public relations office, the visit is aimed at conveying the message of peace and friendship to the neighboring countries and ensuring security for transportation and shipping against sea piracy.
www.farsnews.com
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