Sudan releases four detained foreigners – officials

Sudan has released four foreigners detained near the border with South Sudan following weeks of heavy clashes between the two African neighbors, officials said on Sunday.    

Sudan said it had arrested the four - a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese - last month, accusing them of illegally entering an oil-producing border area to spy for South Sudan.    

South Sudanese officials denied those allegations, saying the men were working with the United Nations and aid groups clearing mines, and had got lost in the remote territory.    

"We thank the president for their release," former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating between the two sides, told reporters at a press conference in Khartoum, sitting alongside the four.     Sudan's defence minister confirmed their release.    

The arrest in April came after weeks of fighting along the 1,800 km contested border that brought the two countries closer to an all-out war than at any time since South Sudan seceded.

REUTERS