Sudan ultimatum over US embassy

The animosity between Sudan and the US is deep rooted

Khartoum has threatened to close the US embassy in Sudan unless a bank is found for its mission in Washington.

The Sudanese embassy in Washington has been unable to find a new bank after its previous lender was fined $25m for suspected money laundering violations.

Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said the US had until the end of the month to resolve the problem.

Relations between the two countries have been strained over the crisis in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Animosity

"They failed to make it possible for our embassy in Washington to have an account in any of the American banks," Mr Ismail told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

"This is the direct responsibility of the host country. We've been waiting for three months.

"If it is not settled there is no way the Sudan embassy will continue. And on a reciprocal basis, there is no way for the US embassy to continue here," he said.

In response, US officials in Washington say they are close to a deal to resolve the long-running dispute.

Several embassies in Washington are reported to have suffered the same problem after Riggs Bank, which traditionally serves the diplomatic community, was fined by US regulators for alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.

But the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Khartoum, says the animosity between Sudan and the US is deep rooted.

Sudan has long accused the US of supporting rebels both in the south of the country and in Darfur, our correspondent says.

And the US was the first country to accuse Sudan of waging a genocide in Darfur, where some 70,000 have died since the conflict began in February 2003.