At the end of October, Sudan announced that it had licensed Dell and Microsoft to manufacture laptops and tablets for sale to its armed forces — and said they would be paid via installments over three years.
That, however, was after several years of rebels demanding that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization remove the U.S. and other NATO member governments from the payroll. The move to pay for the laptops in installments, which fell on election day, came under fire from the opposition. A government shutdown came this week, because it thought its data requests were too intrusive.
An army spokesman said two large groups of rebels were spreading disinformation and was trying to bring about a military coup.
Peace talks are taking place in Algeria with opposition groups that the government wants to disarm — and it is negotiating a peace deal with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. The army needs these weapons to fight that group’s allies in the Justice and Equality Movement.
Note: This story is described as a summary in a previously unpublished draft that was sent to the Post through the Freedom of Information Act. The Post has reviewed the draft and does not consider it to be protected by proprietary information.