Sudsan has closed its embassy to the US in Washington, D.C. "until further notice."
Sudan's U.S. embassy in Washington, D.C. closed Monday, according to its official Web site and a notice posted outside the embassy's door.A sign reading, "Notice from the Embassy: This is to inform that the Embassy will be closed starting from Monday, August 23, 2004 until further notice" was posted in Arabic and English on the embassy's front door.
"They want to try to reduce [the embassy] as a site for visible public protest," said Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action. "I have not seen an official statement or notice."
Attempts to reach the Sudanese embassy officials for confirmation and an explanation for the closure have been unsuccessful. The U.S. State Department was unable to provide the information at this time.
The embassy has been the site of continual demonstrations, protests, and celebrity arrests for several weeks.
"Despite the closure, the daily hour-long protest organized by the Sudan Campaign in front of the embassy continued.Their shutting down the embassy doesn't prevent what we're trying to accomplish," said Joe Madison, the president of the Sudan Campaign. "We will be there every day until the president of the U.S. issues a declaration of genocide [in Sudan] or until the Sudanese government reaches an agreement that normalizes the lives of black people of Darfur."
Since June 29, 2004, activists from the Sudan Campaign have protested the crisis in Sudan every day from noon to 1:00 p.m.
People of all ages, backgrounds and professions marched in front of the Sudanese embassy braving the D.C. summer heat. Under the scorching midday sun, the group chanted, sang and held picket signs that call for an intervention in the east African country.
It is not clear whether the protests caused the closure, or Sudan's failure to find a local bank that will accept its account. Of course, the unwillingness of banks in Washington to deal with Sudan is related to Sudan's controversial status.
Sudanese press reports that the government asked its embassy in Washington to close its doors because Sudan says it can find no bank in the United States willing to give it an account.
The US State Department confirms the story, and says it has been trying to help Sudan find a bank willing to take it on. The Sudanese say the State Department has not been helpful.
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