KHARTOUM, 18 March 2005 — Sudan imposed restrictions on the movement of US diplomats yesterday, 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 authorization to travel more than 25 kilometers 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,” Brig. 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.

Meanwhile, representatives from southern Sudan’s former rebel army, its political wing and pro-Khartoum militias yesterday agreed to hold a national reconciliation conference later this month in Kenya, officials said.

The meeting, which drew representatives from militias that supported the Sudanese government before a January peace deal as well as those allied with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Army (SPLM A), agreed to open the conference on March 28, an SPLM official said. “The meeting ended today and agreed that a south-south reconciliation conference will start on March 28 in Kenya,” the official said yesterday.

Earlier, a SPLM official told AFP the technical committee, made of officials from all groups, was discussing the way forward for the region as well as preparing for a major south-south dialogue, a sort of reconciliation conference.

SPLM officials said the meeting also agreed that the reconciliation conference will be convened by Kenyan former President Daniel arap Moi, who championed the peace process, in Kenya. “It will be convened by Moi, under his foundation, Moi Africa Foundation,” the official added.