Sami Al-Haj, Al-Jazeera photographer and a Sudanese national, unexpectedly released from Guantanamo Bay.

Al-Bashir personally received Al-Haj, who overnight became something of a national hero. The Sudanese government is making much political capital out of Al-Haj's release, and anti- American sentiment is running high. Four Sudanese nationals remain in Guantanamo, and Sudan is pressing for their release. "Torture is terrorism" Al-Haj said defiantly. His release has strengthened the government's hand. The challenge for Sudan is that some of the warring Sudanese factions are getting caught up in the tsunami of anti-American hysteria. Sudan's current cumbersome hiatus brought on with all these developments is fraught with difficulties which augurs ill for Sudan. Tensions in Darfur have spiked in the past few weeks, and some of the Darfur opposition groups are now branded pro-American traitors.