Ibrahim Ghandour said Wednesday that several Sudanese diplomats and ambassadors were seeking to return home as a result of the government’s inability to pay them for months.
Speaking at the Sudanese parliament Ghandour said: "Some ambassadors and diplomats want to return to Khartoum now... because of the difficulties faced by them and their families."
The Sudanese foreign minister said his ministry was also unable to pay the rent for several diplomatic missions across the world.
Ghandour said: "For months Sudanese diplomats have not received salaries and there is also a delay in paying rent for diplomatic missions abroad". He did not specifying which missions were affected.
The minister accused some government officials of neglecting the diplomatic missions, saying they had a feeling that paying wages to diplomats and rent for diplomatic missions were not a priority.
In further remarks, Ghandour said: “The situation has now turned dangerous, which is why I am talking about it publicly.”
Elaborating on the details of the issue, Ghandour told reporters after the speech that his ministry's total annual budget was about $69 million while the wages of diplomats and rents of diplomatic missions amounted to about $30 million.
Sudan has been hit by widening economic problems in the last few years, especially since South Sudan separated from the north in 2011, taking with it about 75 percent of Sudan's oil earnings.
