In a brief response to my letter asking some questions about being kicked out of Sudan, the UN Ambassador Jan Pronk has written to me that the Sudanese government expelled him “to get rid of public criticism.”

I received Pronk’s e-mail about 6:50 p.m. (Central U.S. Time), Sunday, November 5, 2006. To my question, “Is your mission over?” he answered, “Yes, in January 2007.”

Pronk with Sudan Liberation Movement representatives in December of 2005 (from his blog)

As I mentioned earlier, BBC reported that Pronk was expelled from Sudan after criticizing the Sudanese government for the genocide in Darfur at his blog. BBC also mentioned of Henry Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to Turkey during the Armenian Genocide, suggesting that blogging would have been a good tool for Morgenthau to let the world know about the Armenian massacres.

Pronk said in his letter it “would require a long essay” to write about the similarities of the Darfuri and Armenian genocides. “Presently I do not have the time to write such a text,” he wrote.

I was planning to write an article for Hetq.am about Pronk’s expulsion (and told this to Pronk originally) and the Morgenthau connection, but given the limited information I will play the idea by ear at this time.

There is more explanation about Pronk’s expulsion at his updated blog.