Austrian tourist questioned for allegedly spying in Sudan

An Austrian tourist has been questioned in Sudan on allegations of spying near the country's eastern sea coast after police found articles about local rebels in his luggage, Sudanese media reported Monday.

Thomas Hirschvogel was detained on Dec. 31 while trekking around the Red Sea Hills near the coastal town of Port Sudan, the independent Sudan Tribune reported. He did not have the proper permits to travel through the area, the paper's Web site said. The paper did not cite any sources, but Hirschvogel confirmed in his online Web blog that he had been interrogated.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment.

On his blog, Hirschvogel, 20, wrote that he was interrogated because security services found articles on the former eastern Sudanese rebels in his possession. "They interrogated me for a few hours, and they believe that i'm (sic) either a journalist or a spy," a posting on Hirschvogel's blog, dated Saturday, said in English.

He said he can only move around in Port Sudan accompanied by a national security official and that police had told him he would probably be expelled from the country.

Attempts to reach Hirschvogel via his blog were not immediately returned.

In Khartoum, Austrian consular services confirmed they were trying to get in contact with Hirschvogel, but they declined to provide more details.

In Austria, Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said officials have been trying to establish the facts surrounding the matter, and efforts were under way to contact Hirschvogel via e-mail and through his hotel.

"We are in touch with the minister of state for foreign affairs in Sudan and have asked him to help us in establishing the facts," he said.

"All facts need to be verified and confirmed," Launsky-Tieffenthal said, adding Hirschvogel may have had problems with his travel documents.

Sudan tightly controls the movements of foreigners outside its capital, especially in regions where rebellions have erupted.

A low-level insurgency in the eastern region pitted the Beja tribesmen against the central Khartoum government over accusations of discrimination. A peace deal ended the fighting in late 2006, but some rebel factions turned down the agreement and the area remains volatile.