By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Sudan's U.N. ambassador on Thursday said the expelled top U.N. envoy in his country, Jan Pronk, was "history" and that the United Nations should send a new representative. Pronk was recalled to New York for consultations with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whom he met on Thursday, and will address the U.N. Security Council on Friday afternoon. He was ordered out of Sudan on Sunday after publishing comments on his personal Web site that the Sudanese army lost two major battles to rebels in the Darfur region and morale was low. "For us Mr. Pronk is history," Sudan's ambassador Abdalmahmood Mohamad told reporters. "He was not supportive, he was abusive and he became part of the problem not the solution." Sudan's army last week called Pronk, Annan's special representative in Sudan, a threat to the country's national security. "The Sudanese military is the custodian of the stability and the security of the country. Like any other country, what do you expect the military to do?" Mohamad said. Although few expect Pronk to return to Khartoum, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the envoy "continues to serve with the full backing of the secretary-general and with his full confidence." "We need to take things one step at a time," Dujarric said. "As far as we're concerned, his status remains unchanged." Mohamad said Pronk far exceeded his brief. "Is it the mandate of Kofi Annan? Is it the mandate of Mr. Pronk to describe the morale of the army and the operations of the army and the killings of the army?" Pronk, 66, a former Dutch parliamentarian and cabinet minister, has been in his post for two years. He also wrote that Khartoum was responding to violence in Darfur by sending more troops to the region and "mobilizing Arab militia" accused of pillaging, murder, rape and other atrocities. Violence has increased in the Darfur in the past few weeks between rebels and the government. More than 200,000 people have died in the past three years and 2.5 million are living in arid camps. The Khartoum government has refused to allow a U.N. peacekeeping mission into the region to replace an underfinanced African Union force of 7,000 troops and monitors. Pronk and other U.N. officials have suggested the African Union force be bolstered by other troops and monies as a way to protect civilians in Darfur and save face for Khartoum.
