Hamas has replaced its representative in Sudan, rather than close down its Khartoum office, an official from the Palestinian resistance group has said. Palestinian sources had earlier said the representative left under pressure from the United States, which had called on Khartoum to close the offices of Islamist groups.
| Something about being a state sponsor of terrorism... |
But Ghalib Husayn, Hamas information officer in Khartoum, told Reuters on Saturday that the former Hamas representative to Sudan, Jamal Issa, had merely moved to Yemen after completing his four-year term in Sudan and had been replaced.
| Bad thing for Yemen, too... |
"Hamas has an office here that is known to the state authorities. Nothing is hidden," he said. "The representative of the Hamas movement has been moved to Yemen as part of an ordinary administrative procedure." Husayn, who is also manager of al-Aqsa centre which provides information on Palestinian Islamist groups, said the new representative, Jumaa Abd al-Fattah, was not immediately available for comment. Washington lists Hamas as a "terrorist" group and Sudan as one of seven "state sponsors of terrorism", but recently said it would consider removing the country from the list if a peace deal to end a two-decade civil war in the south was signed. |