Jan Pronk

The Sudanese government is expelling a top United Nations envoy from Sudan, the foreign ministry said on Sunday. The expulsion comes in the wake of comments U.N. envoy Jan Pronk made on his Web site indicating that the Sudanese Armed Forces are in a state of disarray in Darfur.

United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary General, Jan Pronk, has been given 72 hours to leave Sudan.

Pronk last week wrote on his Web site that the Sudanese army had lost two key battles against rebels in Darfur.

Pronk charged that some Sudanese troops are refusing to fight and he said some generals have been fired.

The Sudanese armed forces denied Pronk's claim and called for his expulsion from the country.

Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Ali Sadiq, told VOA that Pronk is also at odds with the government over statements he made about the Darfur peace agreement.

"This decision has to do with the recent statements issued by Mr. Pronk on his private Web site, in which he said the government of Sudan did not implement the Darfur peace agreement and is deceiving those who signed the DPA," said Sadiq. "We consider these statements are unwarranted and affect the situation in Darfur."

The United Nations was not available for comment on Pronk's dismissal.

In August Sudan began a military offensive against rebels in northern Darfur who have refused to sign on to a peace agreement with the Sudanese government.

Only one faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement signed on to the deal.

Others refused, complaining that the peace agreement did not meet their demands of power-sharing and monetary compensation for some three million victims of the conflict.

Last week Darfuri rebels and Sudanese troops clashed along Sudan's porous border with Chad, sending hundreds of injured rebels and soldiers streaming into the Chadian town of Bahai.

The three-year Darfur conflict began when rebels attacked government positions in Darfur, complaining that the remote region remained undeveloped due to neglect by the central government.

Sudan is charged with arming militias to crush the rebellion.

Tens of thousands of people have died and more than two million have been displaced by the fighting.