Greek government admits opposition’s claim of spyware export to Sudan

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – The Greek government on Wednesday morning admitted the opposition’s claim that Israeli-made Predator spyware was exported to Sudan via Greece.

Speaking to major national radio station REAL FM, Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said: “The license to export Predator to Sudan was given but this has nothing to with the civil war there.”

Varvitsiotis then realized he made a blunder as the government spokesman had rejected claims by the main opposition SYRIZA party and added he is not competent to sign such decisions.

"It appears that there has been an export to Sudan,” he finally said.

In response to his remarks, SYRIZA said in a statement: “In the end, Mr. (Prime Minister Kryakos) Mitsotakis was not content to monitor half the political system, journalists, and the leadership of the army. He went so far as to turn the country into a business springboard for the export of such a dangerous technology and indirectly embroiled Greece in a civil war with hundreds of dead and Greeks among the enclaved.”

Fighting raged for the 5th day between the Sudanese army and RSF fighters in Khartoum and its surrounding areas, leaving at least 270 dead and 2,600 others injured, according to the Health Ministry.

While the RSF accused the army of attacking its forces south of Khartoum with light and heavy weapons, the military said the paramilitary force was "spreading lies" and declared it a "rebel" group.

A disagreement between the two military rivals regarding military and security reform, which envisages the full participation of the RSF in the army, has turned into a hot conflict in the last few months.

The dispute between the two sides came to the surface last week, when the army said recent movements by the RSF had occurred without coordination and were illegal.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup.”

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019, was scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.