South Sudan sends census monitors back to Khartoum

Juba: South Sudan has ordered up to 170 census monitors to return to Khartoum, accusing them of interfering with the count that will help find out how wealth and power are shared in Sudan.

The monitors were mostly from the north of Sudan, a senior southern census official said on Monday.

"[Khartoum] sent a recognised team of 25 [monitors]. The others we don't know," Adwok Chol said. "State officials have told them to report back."

Chol declined to say if the 100-170 unrecognised observers were being detained but said local authorities from the 10 southern states would be sending them back to Juba.

Sudan's first census since a 2005 north-south peace deal began last Tuesday and will lay the groundwork for a 2009 poll that will be the country's first democratic election in 23 years.