KHARTOUM: Sudan has expelled two bodyguards working for the British ambassador after their car injured two security officers in a UN car park, a foreign ministry official said on Sunday.

In August, two local security officers for the UN mission in Sudan (UNMIS) were admitted to hospital with minor injuries after a British embassy vehicle hit them while manoeuvring in the UN headquarters’ car park in Khartoum. The incident provoked an immediate protest and brief uproar in the media.

“They were working as a close protection team of the ambassador. They had a problem in UNMIS when they ran over two Sudanese security officers,” said Ali Yusuf, director of protocol at the foreign ministry.

“We found what they did unacceptable. We asked the British embassy for them to leave the country — in a very polite way. We gave them 72 hours and they left,” Yusuf said. He said the security officers were not diplomats and that two new Britons would replace them. “It’s in connection with their behaviour and it has nothing to do with bilateral relations,” Yusuf said.

A spokesman for the British embassy said the two individuals left the country as part of routine rotations and that the foreign ministry had summoned diplomats to give them notice of the expulsion.—AFP