UN envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk prepared to leave Khartoum on Monday after the African country's government raised the stakes in a running dispute with the world body by ordering Pronk to leave.
Khartoum was already on a collision course with the international community over its rejection of a UN Security Council resolution to send 22,500 UN troops to its violent western Darfur region. It calls the plan a Western invasion aimed at recognising Sudan.
Sunday's order to expel the most powerful UN official in Sudan has Pronk packing his things to leave after more than two years at the head of a difficult mission in a war-torn country and observers saying the move exacerbates existing tensions.
"The hard-liners with the government of Sudan are trying always to escalate the confrontation with the international community and Mr Pronk has given them a good chance to succeed," said Faysal el-Bagir, head of the Khartoum human rights centre.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Sudan's order to expel Pronk "unfortunate in the extreme," and said she intended to discuss it with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
"The situation in Darfur has been deteriorating and the international community needs very much to be able to act there," Rice said at a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei. Pronk published comments on his Web site www.janpronk.nl saying the army had lost two major battles with rebels in North Darfur, morale was low, generals were being sacked and soldiers refusing to fight - infuriating Sudan's powerful armed forces.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry said it would continue to cooperate with Pronk's replacement and the United Nations. EU ambassador in Sudan Kent Dagerfeld said he regretted Khartoum's decision to expel Pronk and urged it to reconsider.
British Foreign Office Minister David Triesman said: "This step is counter-productive and will contribute nothing to solving the problems of Sudan."
Pronk came to Khartoum mainly to head a UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan's south and to monitor implementation of a north-south accord which ended Africa's longest civil war. But he spent more time on the separate Darfur crisis.
Described by a UN source as "somewhat bemused", Pronk cancelled his travel plans for the rest of the week and was heading to New York following a summons from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He will not return.
Experts estimate 200,000 people have died in 3-1/2 years of fighting and that 2.5 million have been forced from their homes in Darfur. Washington calls the rape, looting and murder in Darfur genocide, a charge Khartoum rejects.
Some observers questioned whether the expulsion was little more than political theatre because Pronk, as Annan's political appointee, was likely to lose his position when Annan leaves the world body at the end of the year. "Mr Pronk ... his period is nearly finished so it is more political manoeuvre than genuine political action from the government," said el-Bagir.
Others said Pronk himself may have made a political move to "go out with a bang". Earlier this year, Pronk had problems with comments in his blog that changes needed to be made to a Darfur peace deal signed in May by only one of three rebel factions.
"He is very savvy. He must have known what the government's reaction would be to this," said one diplomat who declined to be named. One UN source said Pronk had already been warned about his blog by UN headquarters.
Known among Sudanese as the "governor general", a reference to former British colonial rule, Pronk had irked many parties but had a reputation of being fair and hard-working. Some observers said whoever replaces Pronk is likely to be less outspoken and Darfur rebels hailed his expulsion as a victory for those who want to silence criticism of Khartoum. "Now the world will not know what is really happening in Darfur," Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim said.
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