Sudan fires spokesman over Israel comment

Sudan has sacked its foreign ministry spokesman for making reportedly unauthorised statements about his country's position towards Israel.

Haidar Badawi had told media outlets that Khartoum was in talks with the Israeli government on normalising ties.

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the remarks, but hours later Sudan's Foreign Minister, Omar Qamareddin, said his government had not even discussed the issue.

Mr Badawi later clarified he was speaking in a personal capacity.

In a surprise move last week, the United Arab Emirates confirmed it was normalising ties with Israel.

Last February, it was reported that Sudan's military ruler, Abdel Fattah, had discussed improving ties with Israel when he met Mr Netanyahu in Uganda.