KHARTOUM, May 18 (Reuters) – Sudan will allow foreign
exchange bureaux and banks to trade dollars at a level close to
the black market rate, effectively devaluing the pound, a senior
banking official said on Friday.

Sudan’s economy has been battered since the country lost
three-quarters of its oil production to South Sudan when the
latter became independent in July. Even though the pipelines are
in Sudan, the two have been unable to agree on how much the
South should pay to transport its oil.

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – Sultan Kwaje’s problems started when his country disappeared from under him.

He was born in the southern part of Sudan but has lived in the north for more than three decades. When South Sudan broke away as an independent country from Sudan in July, Kwaje was left on the northern side of the border, a foreigner.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan said it had arrested a Briton, a Norwegian and a South African on Saturday, accusing them of illegally entering a disputed oil-producing border area to help its enemy South Sudan.

South Sudan’s army denied the foreigners were helping its forces and said the men had been on a U.N. vehicle that had got lost in the area.

JUBA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) – When petrol started running low in South Sudan’s capital this month, Peter Bashir Gbandi sensed a sinister force at work.

Rather than blaming a severe shortage of dollars, which the newly-independent country needs to buy imported fuel, the lawmaker pointed to arch rival Sudan – likely in league with Horn of Africa immigrants running filling stations, he said.

JUBA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) – When petrol started running low in South Sudan’s capital this month, Peter Bashir Gbandi sensed a sinister force at work.

Rather than blaming a severe shortage of dollars, which the newly-independent country needs to buy imported fuel, the lawmaker pointed to arch rival Sudan – likely in league with Horn of Africa immigrants running filling stations, he said.

JUBA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) – South Sudan said on Friday it would withdraw its troops from the disputed Heglig oil region more than a week after seizing it from Sudan, pulling the countries back from the brink of a full-blown war.

Sudan quickly declared victory, saying its armed forces had “liberated” the area by force as thousands of people poured onto the streets of Khartoum cheering, dancing, honking car horns and waving flags.

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir all but declared war against his newly-independent neighbor on Thursday, vowing to teach South Sudan a “final lesson by force” after it occupied a disputed oil field.

South Sudan accused Bashir of planning “genocide” and said it would fight to protect its people.

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir vowed on Wednesday to “liberate” South Sudan from its ruling party, a sharp escalation of rhetoric after fierce border clashes that edged the African neighbors closer to all-out war.

There has been growing alarm over the worst violence seen since South Sudan split away from Sudan as an independent country in July under the terms of a 2005 peace settlement. Global powers have urged the two sides to end the fighting.

By Alexander Dziadosz and Ulf Laessing

(Reuters) – The outcome of the dramatically escalating border fighting between Sudan and South Sudan is more likely to be determined by which of the two faltering economies collapses first than by relative military prowess.

South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in July, seized the disputed Heglig oilfield on Tuesday, edging the two former civil war foes closer to full-blown conflict than any time since the South gained independence.

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – Sudan’s parliament branded South Sudan an “enemy” on Monday and demanded the army swiftly recapture a disputed oil-producing region, as escalating border tensions brought the former civil war foes closer to another full-blown conflict.

South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in July, seized the disputed Heglig oilfield last Tuesday, prompting its northern neighbor to vow to recapture the area by “all means”.