1

Thanks for the update!

They speak minimum English to say the least

May I ask why should they speak English? or, maybe better, Why did you expect them to speak English?
After all, it an embassy of a non-English speaking country in another non-English speaking country.

2

Not at all.

Supply and demand:
You are providing services to Sudanese, your own nationals and other nationals (supply) and therefore you should be able to communicate in Arabic, your own country's language and the most popular language - English, (demand) to accommodate that need. Well, unless you are not dealing with other nationals than you probably don't need to learn English, which is not the case here...

So according to your logic, a Djibouti consul in Hong Kong should be able to speak French (their own language) and Cantonese (the local language that everyone understands). But wait...
oh no, they only speak English. And the same applies to the Ugandan consulate etc.

'Banning English teaching in a country whose mother tongue is not English is totally fine. That's how things are suppose to be.'
?

3

You are providing services to Sudanese, your own nationals and other nationals (supply)

Theoretically, embassies provide services to their own citizens, to citizens of the country where they are located (in this case Sudan) and to nationals of other countries under the jurisdiction of that embassy. I doubt the jurisdiction of the embassy of Djibouti in Sudan includes any English speaking country. Anyway, I already got an answer to my question (i.e.: I already know your point of view) so there's no need to start a discussion about this subject.

BTW, when you asked them why would I? Do you not issue visa here at a proper embassy in the capital of Sudan? Is this not an embassy?, in embassies of other countries they had said you something like yes, this is an embassy but we only provide visas to citizens of the countries under our jurisdiction and to foreigners residing -not as tourists but with the relevant residence permit- in a country under our jurisdiction. BTW, visas are provided by the consular section of an embassy or by a consulate which it isn't always in the same building than the embassy (e.g.: the Consulate of Mali in Paris, where you have to go to apply for a visa, is at a different address than the Embassy of Mali in Paris).

chang_kawing said in #2: 'Banning English teaching in a country whose mother tongue is not English is totally fine. That's how things are suppose to be.'

Who said it?

4

'Theoretically, embassies provide services to their own citizens, to citizens of the country where they are located (in this case Sudan) and to nationals of other countries under the jurisdiction of that embassy.'
So riddle me this:
By having the history of issuing visas to non-Sudanese tourists, and other non-Sudanese businessmen and women at the same time, and carrying on doing so - does that not mean the Djibouti embassy is continuing to 'provide services... to the nationals of other countries under the jurisdiction'?

I doubt the official jurisdiction of the embassy of Djibouti in Sudan includes any English speaking countries too. I myself, for example is not from an English-speaking country. But seeing that they have the history of providing such services to the nationals of non-Sudanese and non-Djibouti nationals, theoretically you can say this and that, but practically they are not doing what they theoretically should do and therefore - I think practically they should have staffs that speak relatively good English to meet their practical need. I don't think asking for someone who can speak a reasonable amount of English to work in a diplomatic mission is anything of an outrageous demand anyway.

Nonetheless it isn't even the level of English they speak that concerns me, what concerns me is their unhelpfulness. I am actually a national that does not require a visa to visit Djibouti, and had consulted their embassy in my own country (which is equally unhelpful), when asked about how would the Djibouti immigration at the Somaliland border react when they see my passport at the border, whether they will recognise it as from a visa-free country, a staff says:
'You will need a visa!'
'But your embassy at my home country says I don't need one.'
'Well, you need a visa if you are entering through the land border.'
'But your embassy at my home country says I don't need one, I specifically told them that I am entering by land through Somaliland.'
Seeing there is not end, then I went:
'So if I fly to Djibouti from Yemen, will I need a visa?'
'Yes you will.'
'But you just said if I fly into the country I wouldn't need a visa.'
Seeing that there is no end to this, I gave up, I got the visa just to save myself from the hassle.
The point is, again 'theoretically', an embassy on issues that they are unsure about they should have enquired first before making a comment, but of course, no phone calls were made throughout my enquiry.

5

Ps.

BTW I do know that a consular service is different from an embassy.
However, as far as consular services and anything that has concerns about the foreign nationals of a country residing in Hong Kong, the consular services there pretty much functions as an embassy for them.

6

Of course - but then rather than stating the obvious, that 'they don't feel that's a need for them', I just, as I stated before, that I don't think asking for someone who can speak a reasonable amount of English to work in a diplomatic mission is anything of an outrageous demand.

Getting conflicting info certainly isn't news: personally I have been screwed up myself for a couple of times and that's why I am extra careful when stuff like this happens. But that doesn't mean it's unreasonable for me to complain about such an issue - just because it is, doesn't mean it should be.