KHARTOUM (Reuters) – A few weeks ago, a leading opposition activist sat down in a downtown Khartoum office to talk to a journalist. The young man immediately removed the battery from his cellphone.

“It’s so they can’t trace you,” he said, placing the battery and the phone on the table. “Any one of the security agencies spread throughout the country can arrest you.”

KHARTOUM/BEIJING (Reuters) – Sudanese rebel forces released 29 Chinese workers kidnapped ten days ago in the main oil-producing state of South Kordofan, where the army has been fighting insurgents for seven months, Sudan’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The incident had been an embarrassment for the Sudanese government, which is trying to boost investment from China, its main political and trade ally, as it seeks to overcome a severe economic crisis.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said Friday tensions with South Sudan over oil transit payments could lead to war between the two countries.

Asked in an interview with state television whether war could break out with South Sudan, Bashir said: “There is a possibility.”

JUBA (Reuters) – Dengdit Ayok’s dream of a free press in Africa’s newest nation dissolved when he was arrested and beaten up after writing about the wedding of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir’s daughter.

In an article published in October entitled “Let me say so,” the reporter criticized Kiir for allowing his daughter to marry an Ethiopian, calling it a shock to the nation.

JUBA (Reuters) – Dengdit Ayok’s dream of a free press in Africa’s newest nation dissolved when he was arrested and beaten up after writing about the wedding of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir’s daughter.

In an article published in October entitled “Let me say so”, the reporter criticized Kiir for allowing his daughter to marry an Ethiopian, calling it a shock to the nation.

KHARTOUM, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Sudanese entrepreneur
Mohammed sees plenty of sales potential for pharmaceutical
products in his country but has sleepless nights over how to pay
his suppliers in Germany and Britain.

Like many Sudanese firms selling foreign products, he
struggles to get his hands on dollars to pay for imports as the
country grapples with an economic crisis.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan will continue to take a share of oil from South Sudan to compensate for what it calls unpaid transit fees and said an oil deal was unlikely without an agreement on border and security issues, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.

South Sudan became Africa’s newest nation in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between north and south, but many issues remain unresolved, including oil, debt and violence on both sides of the poorly-defined border.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan said on Sunday it has started confiscating some oil exports from South Sudan that it believes it is owed to meet unpaid transit fees but will not shut down a pipeline carrying the southern state’s oil.

South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace deal with Khartoum that ended decades of civil war in which 2 million people died, but the two sides have failed to sort out a long list of disputes.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan plans to increase oil production to 180,000 barrels a day by the end of the year due to new finds and using more efficient technology to improve the recovery rate, a senior official said on Sunday.

Sudan lost two thirds of the around 490,000 barrels a day of oil production when South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The Khartoum stock exchange on Sunday launched a long-awaited computer trading system that will bring to an end an era of scribbling stock prices on white boards and also marks Sudan’s efforts to attract more investment.

But very thin trading in the first session of the electronic system — a gift from Oman — highlighted the need to overhaul regulations and transparency.