A visit by top ranking South Afr5ican National Defence Force officers to Sudan as part of a goodwill visit to South African troops deployed beyond the country’s borders had to be cancelled when the group was refused entry into Sudan.
The group, including several generals and other high-ranking officers, was told on Monday they will only get to visit troops deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.
The official reason given is that the airport at El Fasher is busy handling troop rotations of Ghanaian troops and is unable to accommodate the South African flight.
The South African Press Association, however, learnt that the Sudanese only wanted to grant Visas to a small component of the group and demanded that those visas only be issued in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
There are more than 500 South African soldiers deployed in Sudan as part of the African Union peacekeeping operation in the troubled Darfur region.
Most are based in El Fasher and surrounding towns.
Last week the United Nations withdrew all its non-essential personnel from El Fasher as the situation in and around the town became very volatile.
Rebels had threatened to attack AU peacekeepers based in Sudan.
Recently, the South African government expressed concern about the mandate of the AU forces in Sudan, which limited the use of force when attacked.
The group of South African officers was scheduled to leave for the DRC later on Monday morning. — Sapa