2009-11-20
(Xinhua) -- The Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoned Thursday the Egyptian ambassador in Khartoum Afify Abdul-Wahab to protest against Egyptian media's accusations of Sudan's failure to protect the Egyptian soccer fans.

Sudanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ali Karti conveyed to the Egyptian ambassador Sudan's complete rejection of the words adopted by some Egyptian media organs to offend Sudan in an unacceptable manner, according to a statement by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry.

"Instead of appreciating Sudan's great preparations and its security plan which brought the great sport event to a safe end, some of these (Egyptian) media used an individual incident as a pretext to offend the Sudan and its people," the statement said.

The Sudanese official demanded the Egyptian ambassador to correct the "image" and to urge the Egyptian media to cease their campaign against Sudan and stop offending its people.

Earlier in the day, Khartoum police spokesman Mohamed Abdul-Majeed al-Tayeb said, "We reaffirm that the Sudanese police, in cooperation with other security forces, have remarkably succeeded in preserving the security during and after the playoff match. No cases of death or serious injuries were reported among the fans of the two teams."

On Wednesday, Khartoum hosted the Egyptian and Algerian soccer teams in their World Cup qualifier playoff during which Egypt was defeated 1-0 and lost the chance to advance to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.

Egypt recalled on Thursday its ambassador to Algeria due to Algerian soccer fans' assaults against Egyptian nationals in Sudan after the match.