Sudan has rejected an offer by the United States to send Marines to increase security at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum, amid protesters and police clashing.
The announcement Saturday follows the United States saying it was sending Marines to Sudan to bolster security at the embassy, where Sudanese police reportedly fired on protestors trying to scale the compound walls.
“Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum and the state is committed to protecting its guests in the diplomatic corps,'' Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told the state news agency SUNA, which Reuters reported Saturday.
As a result, the deployment has been delayed and possibly curtailed, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to disclose details on the troop movement.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Sudan's government "has recommitted itself both publicly and privately to continue to protect our mission," as obligated under the Vienna Convention.
"We have requested additional security precautions as a result of … damage to our embassy,” she said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation closely to ensure we have what we need to protect our people and facility."
The State Department ordered the departure of all family members and non-essential U.S. government personnel from posts in Sudan and Tunisia and issued travel warnings to the two countries due to security concerns over anti-American violence.
The department said while Sudan's government has taken steps to limit the activities of terrorist groups, some remain there and have threatened to attack Western interests. The terrorist threat level remains critical.
The State Department said the airport in Tunis was open and it encouraged all U.S. citizens to depart by commercial air. It said Americans in Tunisia should use extreme caution and avoid demonstrations.
Demonstrators in Sudan stormed the German Embassy before moving on in buses to the U.S. Embassy, where police also reportedly used tear gas to stop them from scaling the walls. The protests reportedly are related to demonstrations across the Muslim world against an anti-Islam film.
The Marine unit, known as a fleet anti-terrorism security team, was to be sent as a precautionary measure, officials said.
Similar teams were sent to Libya on Wednesday after the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, and to Yemen on Friday.
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