Sudan has summoned the US charge d'affaires to protest President Donald Trump’s new executive order on immigration, which bans citizens of six Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the US.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said that Steven Koutsis, the most senior diplomat at the US embassy in Khartoum, was summoned on Thursday to receive Sudan’s protest over Trump's ban, which bars the African country’s citizens from entering the United States.
"The US charge d'affaires was informed of Sudan's discontent over the decisions issued by the American administration on March 6," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, Sudanese under-secretary Abdelghani al-Naiem demanded that Washington drop Sudan from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism.
"The Sudanese under-secretary informed him that this order failed to reflect Sudan's major cooperation in fighting terrorism," it noted.
On Tuesday, Khartoum issued an angry reaction to Trump's new visa ban, saying, "Sudanese citizens have never been involved in any crimes or terrorism in the United States."
Trump signed the revised order on Monday, after his January directive faced multiple challenges in the US federal courts.
The 9th Circuit court of Appeals in the state of Washington succeeded in halting the immigration order, arguing it violated constitutional protections against religious discrimination.
As with the original order, the ban covers Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. However, Iraq was taken off January’s list.
The new measure halts all refugee admissions to the US for 120 days.
The original order contained that provision, except it put an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.
The order, which takes effect on March 16, also spares legal permanent residents, or green card holders.
Trump has argued that the restrictive measures are necessary to prevent terrorist attacks on US soil.
Critics, however, say the restrictions constitute a religious ban in line with Trump's campaign promise to introduce a “total and complete shutdown” on Muslims.
had expressed grave concerns about the original ban, condemned the new order, saying the changes are insignificant.
