---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:48:47 +0300 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Khartoum suspends political parties, censors media To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Sudan suspends SPLM-N and 16 other southern parties Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:20am GMT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said on Thursday it had asked 17 political parties, among them the opposition SPLM-N, to stop their activities because their leaders and most of its members are from its former civil war foe South Sudan. Tensions have been building up between the government in Khartoum and the northern wing of the SPLM since South Sudan became independent in July as agreed under a 2005 peace deal. The SPLM is the ruling party in the South, and the organisation split into north and south along with the country itself. The northern wing, SPLM-N, is allied to armed groups fighting the army in the poorly-marked border area. SPLM-N officials say its offices have been closed since violence broke out in the northern border state of Blue Nile earlier this month. Sudan has asked the 17 parties to stop their activities "because their leadership and most members have lost the Sudanese citizenship," the Council for Political Parties said in a statement. All parties were active in the South, it added. Apart from the SPLM-N, 16 other parties affiliated to South Sudan were affected, among them the SPLM for Democratic Change which broke off from the SPLM and is now a major opposition party in South Sudan. Government officials have said the SPLM-N is illegal because it is not registered as political party. Sudan has recognised South Sudan as independent state but tensions have built up over unresolved issues such as violence in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, sharing oil revenues and finding a solution for the disputed area of Abyei. A day before southern independence on July 9, Sudan suspended six newspapers because southerners were among its owners or publishers. Sudan's north-south civil war which ended in 2005 after decades of fighting over differences over religion, ethnicity, ideology and oil, cost about 2 million lives. http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE78F00P20110916 END1 2. Sudan orders newspapers not to report on rebels September 15, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security authorities have instructed newspapers to steer clear of reporting on statements or activities of rebel groups in the country, the latest action against freedom of press. A number of sources told Sudan Tribune that the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) phoned chief editors of national newspapers and ordered them not to publish any statements by Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim or leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), which is fighting the government in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states. Sudanese newspapers are already hard-pressed by the NISS which regularly censors their contents prior to publication and confiscate their copies after they were printed, inflicting a heavy financial penalty on them. The NISS on Wednesday confiscated copies of the pro-government daily Akhbar Al-Yawm after it published statements by Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement which is fighting the government in the country’s western region of Darfur. Akhbar Al-Yawm, however, failed to speak about its ordeal. Over the last two months, Sudan confiscated copies of two privately owned newspapers and a pro-opposition one, in clear violation of the country’s constitution which guarantees freedom of press. A senior member of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) denied any knowledge of the confiscation of papers. Samia Mohamed Ahmad said she had not heard that any newspapers were confiscated since pre-publication censorship is lifted. Officially, Sudan announced it stopped direct censorship against newspapers but chief editors were forced to sign a so-called “code of journalistic conduct” which obliges them to exercise “self-censorship and refrain from publishing materials harmful to the state. A Sudanese lobby group has denounced the confiscation of papers as a constitutional abomination. The Network of Sudanese Journalists said on September 5 that the confiscation of the pro-opposition Al-Maydan and the privately owned daily Al-Jaridah violated Sudan’s interim constitution and international accords ratified by the country. The group also said that NISS’s continuing confiscation of papers was a dangerous indication of curtailing freedom of expression and of restricting and weakening the press. Reporters Without Borders, an international press freedom organisation, in June slammed "the disgraceful way the [Sudanese] authorities are harassing and prosecuting journalists in Khartoum and the north of the country in an attempt to silence them and stop embarrassing revelations about human rights violation by the security forces". Another press-freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said that Sudanese authorities continue to “aggressively” target individual journalists and publications through "contrived legal proceedings, politicized criminal charges, and confiscations." Results published as part of UNESCO 2011 World Press Freedom Day, Sudan ranks as 40th worst out of 48 in Sub-Saharan Africa for press freedom. Amnesty International describe Sudan as a place where freedom of speech is being "openly violated". (ST) END2 3. Sudan authorities continue to confiscate newspapers New York, September 15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the growing censorship of newspapers in Sudan. In the past two weeks alone, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) halted the distribution of four different opposition newspapers without cause. On September 4, 6, 8, and 11, Sudanese authorities confiscated four print-runs of the Sudanese Communist Party biweekly Al-Midan, local and international news reports said. On Tuesday, the paper was seized again by the NISS, for the fifth time in two weeks. On September 4 and 8, two other opposition newspapers, Al-Jarida and Al-Sahafa, respectively, were confiscated by authorities. On Tuesday, opposition paper Akhbar al-Youm was seized, local reports said. "The repeated confiscation of these newspapers' entire print-runs is an insidious form of censorship designed to put the publications out of business," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The people of Sudan are entitled to hear alternative voices. The government must respect this right and allow these papers to publish without interference." NISS officials informed Al-Jarida that it would continue to be confiscated if it persisted in publishing articles by journalists who had worked for the banned Ajras al-Hurriya, which was suspended in July along with five other South Sudanese-run newspapers that had run critical commentaries on the government, according to local reports. On Saturday, the National Press and Publications Council also ordered the suspension of another six newspapers covering sports--Habib Al-Balad, Al-Mushahid, Al-Za'eem, Suber, Al-Mureekh, and Aa'lim Al-Noojum--for their alleged "breach of licensing" procedures which included "inciting violence between teams," according to news reports. CPJ has reported on previous newspaper confiscations in Sudan, an ongoing repressive tactic employed by the government. In each case, the authorities wait for the newspapers to be printed and then confiscate the copies before they are distributed, thus inflicting maximum financial losses. http://www.cpj.org/2011/09/sudan-authorities-continue-to-confiscate-newspaper.php END3 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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