Rebels in Sudan's South Kordofan state have captured 29 Chinese workers after a battle with government forces, a spokesman for the insurgents said on Sunday.

Nine members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) were also being held, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told Agence France Presse.

The Sudanese army claimed a strategic victory on Saturday in its war against the rebels in South Kordofan, saying it captured camps on a key supply route in the southern border region after deadly clashes.

"Today the Sudanese army took control of SPLA camps in the Lake Jau area. The fighting took place at around 4:30 pm (13:30 GMT). There were a number of casualties and injured soldiers on both sides," army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told Agence France Presse.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked judges Friday for an arrest warrant for Sudan's defense minister over crimes committed in Darfur, his office said.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court "to issue an arrest warrant against the current Sudanese Defense Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The U.N. human rights chief on Friday condemned a deadly air strike on a refugee camp in South Sudan, saying the attack could amount to an international crime.

"We condemn the bombing. It's an extremely serious matter and could amount to an international crime," spokesman Rupert Colville told journalists.

Sudan has lodged a fresh complaint with the U.N. Security Council detailing South Sudan's alleged support for rebels in its war-torn border states, just four months after partition, state media reported Saturday.

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, provided "detailed, confirmed information explaining the support of the government of the south for the rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile," the SUNA news agency reported.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir arrived in Khartoum on Saturday for his first visit since southern secession to discuss key unresolved issues, including Abyei and oil, that have undermined north-south relations.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir received his counterpart at the airport, alongside senior members of his cabinet, according to an AFP correspondent.

Sudan's Omar al-Bashir said on Saturday that the newly independent Republic of South Sudan's success "will be our success," and renewed his call for an end to U.S. sanctions against his country.

"We fulfill our commitment to help the new state of South Sudan in its first steps, because we want it to succeed, and because its success will be our success," Bashir said in a conciliatory speech to tens of thousands of southerners at the official independence ceremony in Juba.

Sudan's government agreed Tuesday to appoint a vice president from the war-torn Darfur region, taking a step toward satisfying a key rebel demand for greater power-sharing, state media reported.

"The government agrees to appoint a vice president from (the) Darfur region to complete the current electoral term," SUNA news agency said in a brief statement.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously voted to send a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to the disputed Sudanese territory of Abyei.

The force will monitor the withdrawal of north Sudan troops from Abyei as well as human rights in the region.

Hundreds of baton-wielding riot police barred Sudanese opposition activists from demonstrating on Wednesday, arresting dozens and beating up others, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Some 500 riot police were deployed in Abu Janzeer square, in the center of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, after an alliance of opposition parties announced plans to hold a demonstration there at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT).