Sudan imposed restrictions on the movement of US diplomats Thursday, in what it said was retaliation for similar measures ordered by Washington. Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said US diplomats would in future be required to obtain prior authorisation to travel more than 25 kilometres (16 miles) from the presidential palace in Khartoum. The tit-for-tat moves come amid a mounting war of words between Sudan and the United States.
Earlier this month, a senior Sudanese security official accused the US embassy of carrying out "hostile activities" against the Khartoum regime.
"The American embassy in Khartoum leads hostile activities against the Sudan," Brigadier Hassan al-Umdah told a seminar without elaborating.
His comments came just days after the US State Department issued a stark warning to Khartoum over its failure to rein in government-sponsored militias blamed for a reign of terror in the western region of Darfur.