Sudan says it has South Sudan’s former rebel leader who fled

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan says it has received South Sudan’s former rebel leader and vice president, whose whereabouts had been unknown after he fled his country into neighboring Congo last week.

Riek Machar needed “urgent medical attention,” government spokesman Ahmed Bilal Osman said in a statement carried Tuesday by the SUNA news agency. He says Machar’s condition is now stable and that he would stay “until he leaves the country for a destination of his choice to complete his medical treatment.”

Osman says Machar had been received “recently” in Sudan but did not give details on when or how he entered the country. He says Sudan accepted Machar for “purely humanitarian reasons,” and promptly notified neighboring South Sudan’s government.

Machar fled South Sudan’s capital last month amid renewed fighting.