The Sudanese foreign ministry gave Jan Pronk, special representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Sudan three days to leave the country, the official SUNA news agency reported on Sunday.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ends the mission of Jan Pronk in Sudan and gives him 72 hours to leave the country," SUNA said in an urgent report.

Last Thursday, the Sudanese army announced that Jan Pronk, the UN special envoy in Sudan, was "not welcomed in this country for his flagrant interference in the army's affairs."

The Sudanese side also accused the UN top envoy in Sudan of launching a psychological war on the Sudanese army by spreading fabricated false information doubting the army's capability to maintain the security and stability of the country.

Pronk wrote in his personal blog last week that the Sudanese army had lost two major battles in Darfur, one in Umm Sidir last month and the other in Karakaya earlier this month, and suffered heavy casualties.

"The morale in the government army in North Darfur has gone down. Some generals have been sacked; soldiers have refused fighting," said Pronk in his blog.

Members of the Sudan Liberation Army (File Photo)

Sudan's Foreign Ministry on Friday demanded an apology from the top UN envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, for what the war-torn country called "unacceptable" comments he made on his blog about the conflicts in Darfur, state television said.

The Foreign Ministry did not say that Pronk would be required to leave Sudan, but Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Amin was quoted by the state TV as saying that he expected "the political and the military leadership to take further measures to either expel Pronkor or ask him to leave."

The military also released a statement declaring Pronk, the special representative of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Sudan, as "persona non grata," the state TV reported.

The military said that the remarks by Pronk, who said that the government forces had suffered two major defeats in Darfur recently and that troop morale was low, amounted to waging a "psychological war against the Sudanese army."

Pronk wrote on Oct. 14 on his personal blog that the government forces had lost "two major battles" in western Sudan's Darfur, saying, "Losses seem to have been very high."

"The morale in the government army in North Darfur has gone down. Some generals have been sacked; soldiers have refused fighting," said Pronk.

The United Nations has no formal communication from Sudan that Pronk was labeled "persona non grata," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

He added that Pronk remains on the job in Khartoum, noting, "The United Nations requires staff to get permission before publishing books but no rules about blogs."

Editor: Yan