The Sudanese government has apologised to Nigerians and the Senate President, David Mark, for shutting its airport in Khartoum against him and his entourage on Monday.
The United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) have also apologised to the Nigerian government over the incident.
In separate apologies, the Sudanese government and the two international unions said investigation has begun into the circumstances that led to the “mishap.” Ghazi Salahudin Atabani, the majority leader of the Sudanese parliament and the representative of the Sudanese president said: “We apologize for this mishap; the Sudanese government is embarrassed because it was not intended.” The Presidential aircraft conveying Mr. Mark and other senators who were going to visit Nigerian troops on peace mission in the war ravaged Sudan were refused landing at the Khartoum Airport on Monday, forcing the pilot to return to Abuja.
According to Mr. Atabani, “The incident was caused by communication gap, because for some time now, the Khartoum airport runway has been undergoing repairs between 8:00am and 3:00pm. However, the incident is regrettable.”
Mr. Mark, however, said the incident “is totally unacceptable to Nigeria. We feel extremely disappointed over the incident because it was a scheduled visit.” Ibrahim Idah (PDP Katsina State) and chairman senate committee on defence and a member of the delegation said that back, the Sudanese government closed the airport to international flights, with the full knowledge of their visit.
He added that the Sudanese government contacted the presidential pilot conveying the Nigerian envoy through the Chadian airport authorities that they will not be able to land in Khartoum.
“The delegation already entered the Sudanese airspace then.” Mr. Idah explained.
He added that efforts made to reach the Sudanese authorities to clarify their position failed, as the airport authorities bluffed their calls and that even the Nigerian ambassador in Sudan was unaware of the repairs at the airport.
More apologies
The head of the Joint African Union and the United Nations Hybrid Operations in Darfur, Henry Abyidoho, was also part of the fence mending envoy seeking to pacify the Senate president.
However, Mark told him, “I have noted your apology and hoped that the incident will be looked into. We have reported the matter to our Foreign Affairs Ministry. We believe that without peace, there can be no democracy in Africa. We hope that the incident will not mar the relationship between both countries,” the Senate president added.
The Sudanese president Omar B ashir was originally scheduled to visit Nigeria on Thursday before local and international calls for his arrest forced him to cancel the trip. Mr Bashir is wanted by the Inter national Criminal Court for his role in the ge nocide at the Darfur region of Sudan.
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