SUDAN'S "FREEDOM BELLS" MUFFLED BY GOS ON ALL FRONTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001591 DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, DRL NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: SUDAN'S "FREEDOM BELLS" MUFFLED BY GOS ON ALL FRONTS REF: A) Khartoum 0546 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Sudanese authorities are limiting the reach of Khartoum's newest Arabic-language daily, the independent but SPLM-leaning Ajras al-Hurriya ("Freedom Bells"),through a daily regimen of heavy censorship, excessive taxation and limited distribution. The paper's Nyala correspondent, Nurredine Braima, was jailed for two weeks in October after he translated for a visiting Qatari envoy what the government claimed were "controversial" remarks by an Internally Displaced Person (IDP). An analysis of articles not published shows censors are sensitive to articles that do not toe the official line on subjects as wide-ranging as Darfur, education policy and even enforcement of traffic rules. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Deng Loc, Editor-in-Chief of Ajras al-Hurriya, told Poloff on October 27 that in recent months Sudanese authorities have doubled the pressure they exert on the paper, which is sympathetic towards the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. Censors from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) now excise up to a dozen articles nightly before the sixteen-page newspaper goes to press, and Loc's daily editorial column has not printed for the last nine days. Additionally, GOS taxation authorities are currently taxing the paper at a forty- percent rate, not the fifteen to eighteen-percent standard tax rate for newspapers. While Ajras al-Hurriya now prints at a privately-owned printing press, Loc suspects that the government-owned newspaper distribution service limits the paper's distribution to few outlets in the capital area. "I cannot even buy our newspaper in this neighborhood," he said, gesturing out the window of his cramped office in the centrally-located Khartoum 2 residential district. ¶3. (SBU) On October 11, NISS detained Freedom Bells' Nyala correspondent, Nurredine Braima, for two weeks on the spurious grounds that he had caused a commotion in a meeting room during an official visit. Instead, Loc said Braima was arrested after offering his translation services to a Qatari envoy visiting Nyala. During a meeting, when an elderly IDP who spoke no Arabic approached the envoy, Braima translated her statement from Fur into Arabic. Displeased by what Braima had translated, authorities arrested him, and Loc suspects that authorities released Braima October 26 as a goodwill gesture during an unrelated visit to Nyala by Senior Presidential Advisor Nafie Ali Nafie. ¶4. (SBU) Loc provided Poloff with numerous articles NISS censors had pulled the night before the October 22 edition was to go to press. Following closely on the heels of the Sudan Peoples' Initiative (SPI),articles critical of the government's stance on Darfur dominated that day's edition, including one suggestively titled "After 37 Days of Initiative, the Result is Zero." Other articles also subject to censorship took a less confrontational approach: "New Vision to Resolve Darfur Conflict," by Adam Abaker Ali, urged the SPI to become more inclusive of Darfur Peace Agreement non-signatories and civil society stakeholders; and "Commentary on the Sudan Peoples' Initiative," by Begist Yousif Badri, called for security arrangements in Darfur and a timetable to disarm the janjaweed. ¶5. (SBU) Other censored articles from that day covered more domestic, even mundane, subjects that Loc insisted had received coverage in other Khartoum newspapers. "Higher Education: Climbing to the Cliff" discussed the problems of educational reforms dating from the time of the National Islamic Front, and "By Logic, Illusion" criticized Khartoum traffic police regulations for renewing drivers' licenses. Also subjected to censorship was an article entitled "Farm Owners in El Geraif District Hand Urgent Memo to the Legislative Assembly." ¶6. (SBU) Not afraid to broach controversial subjects to test the censors' limits, Loc strongly criticized the Sudan People's Initiative in a previous editorial column. In another, he argued that the Sudan People's Liberation Army had a right to keep weaponry, which it allegedly had purchased, from a Ukrainian vessel hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The reasons why other, more innocuous articles were pulled remain a mystery, however, as Loc described a censorship regime that had reached what he described as a new level of absurdity: "They sometimes even take my articles and put them into other newspapers," he said with an exasperated smile. ¶7. (SBU) Comment: In a media market saturated with outlandish accusations and inaccurate reporting, Ajras al-Hurriya consistently publishes forward-thinking articles from a balanced perspective. Post supported the paper in the past through a USAID/OTI start-up grant. The newspaper was given a lengthy interview with Charge KHARTOUM 00001591 002 OF 002 d'Affaires Fernandez in its inaugural issue. The Embassy also issued a press statement criticizing the Government of Sudan's shutting down the paper in April (the statement was itself censored in the local media). Post will remain in contact with the editors of Freedom Bells to monitor censorship and other harassment of the daily and its staff. End Comment. FERNANDEZ