Sudan ups security on laptops entering airport

Aug 30, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese security forces have begun temporarily seizing laptop computers entering the country to check information stored on them as part of new security measures.

A state security source said on Wednesday the procedure was introduced because pornographic films and photographs were entering Sudan. “We return the laptops after one day,” he said.

U.N. officials, aid agency workers, businessmen and journalists who regularly visit Sudan worry, however, that the security of sensitive and confidential information such as medical, legal and financial records could be at risk.

“They could download email systems, passwords, even get into people’s bank accounts,” said one source in Khartoum’s aid community, who declined to be named for fear of retribution.

Other innocent material could also be construed to be subversive, like maps or photos, the source added.

A U.S. journalist is currently in jail in Darfur accused of espionage, in addition to charges of entering Sudan across the Chad border illegally, because among other things he was carrying a map he had downloaded from the Internet.

Analysts say the move is the latest in a series of security crackdowns in Sudan as the government comes under intense global pressure to accept a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Critics say the government fears U.N. troops will arrest any officials or militia members likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court investigating alleged war crimes in the region.

Sudanese officials say allowing international forces into Darfur would only worsen the situation by attracting foreign fighters looking to battle western troops. Khartoum says it would result in an Iraq-style quagmire.

(Reuters)