Khartoum rejects US request to close Hamas, al-Jihad offices

Sudan has rejected an American request to close offices in Khartoum for the two Palestinian movements of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, according to the secretary general of the ruling National Congress party Ibrahim Omar.

Omar said that the party rejected this request which was proposed by the US secretary general Colin Powell, without clarifying the date of this American request was made. Omar who refused to describe the two movements as terrorists said that "our position regarding Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement is clear: they are among the Islamic forces which struggle to liberate the land of Palestine, which is a legitimate right." He continued "we do not share the view which says that activities of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are terrorist activities," describing, on the other hand, the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon as "terrorist."