Sudan foreign minister admitted to hospital, poisoning suspected: report

Sudan foreign minister admitted to hospital, poisoning suspected: report
Tuesday 2 February 2010


February 1, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign minister Deng Alor has been admitted to a private hospital in the Ethiopian capital and is suspected to have been poisoned, a Sudanese newspaper reported on Monday.
The pro-government Al-Intibaha newspaper said that the incident took place as Alor was taking part in the African Union (AU) summit held in Addis Ababa.
The news was kept under tight wraps but a source close to the Sudanese official refused to reveal the circumstances surrounding the poisoning or whether foul play is suspected.
Political assassinations in Sudan are rare and uncommon throughout its political history.
In 2007, a number of Sudanese officials were hospitalized after drinking camel milk in a desert retreat including senior presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie, former presidential press secretary Mahjoub Fadl Badri and Qutbi Al-Mahdi a senior official in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir drank from the same milk but did not suffer the same poisoning symptoms.
(ST)