- Sudan has made "positive" steps towards meeting Washington's conditions for permanently lifting 20-year-old sanctions on the African country, the US envoy to Khartoum told AFP in an interview.

Bentiu - What was once Bentiu, the gateway to South Sudan's oil fields, is now a cluster of bullet-riddled buildings and piles of scrap metal, its ghostly avenues abandoned.

Sheikh Habibullah - It was Efrem Desta's yearning for freedom that made him flee his home country of Eritrea and enter Sudan illegally, hoping that he could later make it to Europe.

Khartoum - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, will not join an Islamic summit in Saudi Arabia with US President Donald Trump, his office said Friday.

Khartoum - A French mineworker who was kidnapped in Chad and taken to neighbouring Sudan has been freed after more than six weeks in captivity, French and Sudanese officials said on Sunday.

Khartoum - Sudan on Friday rejected a new US travel advisory warning Americans against visiting the country, particularly three conflict zones, due to risks of "terrorism and violent crimes".

Khartoum - Sudan expressed "deep regret and discontent" on Tuesday over US President Donald Trump's revised travel ban barring its citizens from travelling to the United States.

Khartoum - A Sudanese court on Sunday sentenced three human rights activists to a year each in jail after convicting them of publishing fake reports or spying, their lawyer said.

Khartoum - President Omar al-Bashir has ordered Sudanese authorities to assist the delivery of international humanitarian aid to famine-hit South Sudan through the country, an official said Thursday.

Khartoum - Global financial support for humanitarian work in conflict-riven Sudan is expected to drop this year despite improved aid access and the easing of US sanctions, the top UN aid official in the country said.

Winnipeg - Eight asylum seekers, including four children, made a harrowing crossing from the United States into Canada on Friday, barely escaping from pursuing U.S. border patrol agents into the custody of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Khartoum - A prominent Sudanese human rights activist has begun a hunger strike in detention and the authorities have accused him of attempting to commit suicide, his wife said Saturday.

Washington - In what one congressman called a "constitutional crisis," U.S. border agents are reportedly defying federal court rulings, detaining people from seven majority Muslim countries —including green card holders —and denying them access to attorneys.

Washington - Permanent U.S. residents — holders of so-called green cards — are included in President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigrants, refugees and travelers from seven majority Muslim nations, the Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday.

Khartoum - Sudanese opposition leader and ex-prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi returned to the country on Thursday more than two years after he fled abroad, his party said.

Khartoum - Sudanese lawmakers voted Wednesday to bring back the post of prime minister, a position abolished after President Omar al-Bashir came to power in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup.

Khartoum - Dozens of health facilities supported by the World Health Organization in strife-torn areas of Sudan risk closure due to a lack of funds, exposing one million people to likely epidemics.

Khartoum - Around 300 Sudanese students and schoolchildren marched in the capital Khartoum on Thursday, defying government efforts to quell persistent protests against fuel subsidy cuts that have led to spiralling prices.

Khartoum - President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday accused Amnesty International of spreading "lies" that Sudanese government forces had used chemical weapons against civilians in war-torn Darfur.

Aweil - A serious food crisis in the north of South Sudan is reaching critical levels, as a biting drought across much of east Africa serves up even more woes for the troubled country.