On Thursday 13 Sudanese prisoners detained by South Sudan during the conflict in Heglig were released and returned to Khartoum.
The release was brokered by Egypt and coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Sudan’s military spokesman Al Sawarmi Khaled Saad told the state owned Sudan news agency (SUNA) that the soldiers were arrested at the hospital in Heglig on 10 April, the day that South Sudan entered the area and were with their families and medical staff.
He denied claims that they were captured on April 20 and said that the South Sudanese soldiers currently in Sudanese custody will be dealt with according to international conventions on prisoners of war.