United Nations - Sudan unleashed a storm of diplomatic invective against the US yesterday after a high-ranking US official visited rebel areas in southern Sudan without permission.
Ms Susan Rice, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said after making a two-day visit to Sudan in mid-November that slavery still existed in the country and was condoned by the government in Khartoum.
In a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, the government said Ms Rice's visit was "a grave violation" of Sudan's sovereignty, illegal, irresponsible, unjustifiable, and "calculated to cause offence". The letter said the US was "committed to policies of hypocrisy and to action to impose its imperialist, blood-sucking agenda to the detriment of the world's peoples".