Sudan protests Egypt’s TV serial

Sudan has summoned Egypt’s ambassador to complain about a TV series that it says portrays Egyptian terrorists living in the neighbouring country.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Saturday that the Ramadan serial, titled Abu Omar Al Masry, is “insulting to Egyptians living in Sudan” and called on Egypt to “stop attempts at disturbing the interests of the two countries”.

Khartoum appears to have been angered by the idea that Egyptian militants would find refuge in Sudan.

Osama Bin Laden and other extremists, including many from Egypt, were based in Sudan in the mid1990s. Cairo accused Sudan of involvement in a 1995 assassination attempt by Egyptian extremists against Hosni Mubarak during a trip to Ethiopia. Sudan denied the allegations.

The Foreign Ministry statement said “no Egyptian living in Sudan has been involved in terrorist attacks”.

ONTV, which aired the serial, denied it depicted Sudan, saying it does not contain “scenes or hints of the Sudanese state or Sudanese people.” It also said the series had nothing to do with the policies of the Egyptian state.

Relations with Egypt have been strained over the past year by Khartoum’s revival of a long-standing border dispute and its perceived support for Ethiopia, which is building a massive upstream dam on the Nile that Egypt fears will cut into its share of the river.