Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir, has declared a state of emergency in some areas bordering South Sudan. It gives authorities wide powers of making arrest a day after they detained four foreigners in a flashpoint town along the frontier.

Sudan has accused its southern neighbor of using foreigner fighters during its recent assault on the oil-rich Heglig region, which Khartoum claims. The Sudanese army claimed late Saturday that four people were arrested in Heglig, including a Briton, a Norwegian, and a South African, and alleged that they were carrying out military activities. But in Oslo, a Norwegian humanitarian organization says that one of its employees, 50-year-old John Soerboe, was detained while on a mine-clearing mission in southern Sudan with the Briton and South African. South Sudan invaded Heglig earlier this month, saying it belonged to the south. Sudan later retook the town. It elevated the tension even further by bombing its southern neighbor.

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