Sudan summons Egypt envoy over 'offensive' Ramadan TV serial

Sudan has summoned Egypt's ambassador to complain about a Ramadan TV series that Khartoum says portrays Egyptian terrorists living in the neighbouring country.

The Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that it had summoned the ambassador to protest against the series, "Abu Omar al-Masry".

"'Abu Omar al-Masry' shows that some Egyptians living in Sudan are involved in terrorism," the statement said.

"This is not true because there is no evidence against any Egyptian living in Sudan of being involved in terrorism,"

It added that it had filed a formal complaint with the Egyptian foreign ministry through its embassy in Cairo against the "offensive" show, which is based on a novel of the same name.

ONTV, which aired the serial, has denied it depicted Sudan, saying it does not contain "scenes or hints of the Sudanese state or Sudanese people."

Relations with Egypt have been strained over the past year by Khartoum's revival of a longstanding border dispute and its perceived support for Ethiopia, which is building a massive upstream dam on the Nile that Egypt fears will cut into its share of the river.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has accused Egyptian intelligence services of supporting opposition figures fighting his troops in the country's conflict zones like Darfur.

Cairo has recently accused Khartoum of harbouring members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Osama bin Laden and other extremists, including many from Egypt, were based in Sudan in the mid-1990s.

On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that a "breakthrough" had been reached in talks with Sudan and Ethiopia over the dam.