From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Jul 06 2010 - 16:07:51 EDT
Sudan shuts separatist newspaper - state media
Tue Jul 6, 2010 5:24pm GMT
* Anti-south paper suspended "indefinitely"-state media
* Papers warned of return of daily censorship (Adds detail, background,
return of censorship)
By Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM, July 6 (Reuters) - Sudan closed a newspaper campaigning for the
separation of the country's north and south, state media reported on
Tuesday, signalling a new crackdown before a vote on southern independence.
Al Intibaha, was "suspended indefinitely" because of the way it strengthened
separatist tendencies, said The Sudanese Media Centre, a news outlet with
links to state security.
Other newspapers said articles about conflicts in the south had also been
blocked, and national security officers had warned them they would resume
daily censorship of publications.
Southerners are six months away from a referendum on whether they should
split away as an independent nation.
Analysts say most southerners favour independence but President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir, leader of the main party in the north, has promised to campaign
to persuade southerners to vote for unity.
The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two
decades of civil war between Sudan's Muslim north and the south, where most
follow Christianity and traditional beliefs.
Northern and southern leaders are due to start politically sensitive
discussions in Khartoum on Saturday on how they would divide oil revenues
and debts after the plebiscite.
Editors of two other newspapers told Reuters security agents had telephoned
late on Monday telling them to remove articles about conflicts in the south,
saying they would damage relations between Khartoum and the oil-producing
region.
"They said they wanted us to concentrate on the issue of unity. They said
anything that might disturb the government in the south might make
problems," said the editor in chief of Al- Tayyar newspaper Osman Mirghani.
Bashir lifted newspaper censorship in the run up to April's elections, but
newspapers have complained it has made a comeback since the poll.
"We are back to square one ... Starting from tonight they say they are going
to visit every newspaper to check if anything should be prevented," said
Mirghani, adding he had been forced to scrap Tuesday's print-run of
Al-Tayyar because there had not been enough time to remove the offending
article about tribal clashes in the south.
Editors at the daily Al-Ahdath said they also received a late call from
state security and had pulled their Tuesday edition, which had contained an
article about clashes between south Sudan's army and a renegade militia
leader.
Al Intibaha is known for its harsh criticism of the south and southerners
and has argued for Arab north Sudan to take the initiative and separate from
the south. SPLM officials have made a series of complaints about its
coverage in the past.
Sudanese security closed opposition newspaper Rai Al-Shaab and arrested
staff in May after it printed articles accusing Bashir of rigging elections
and reporting Iran was developing weapons in a Sudanese factory. (Editing by
Ralph Boulton)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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