VZCZCXRO7682
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1591/01 3030812
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 290812Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2188
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

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