Email
Print
Save
September 1, 2008 (JUBA) — Sudanese press regulator has suspended today The Citizen newspaper, an English language daily issued from Juba since two years.
The Editor in chief, Nhial Bol, said the suspension of his independent daily comes to sanction his rejection to remove the Managing Editor of The Citizen who is from the troubled Darfur region.
The National Press Council (NPC) pressed Bol to dismiss Izzadine Abdoul-Rassuou, the Managing Editor because he is from the troubled Darfur region, he said.
"Many members of the NPC privately approached me and asked to step down from nominating Izzadine because they believed that his presence in the management would influence editorial contents, I rejected this call since April 2008" he said.
A NPC spokesperson o confirmed today the suspension but he insisted on the administrative character of their decision, adding there was no political pressure on The Citizen.
He added that The Citizen editor should be based in Khartoum as it was provided in its licence.
"We reject that too. Sudan is one country and the Editor-in-Chief has the right to have an office anywhere in the country," Bol said in a statement sent to Sudan Tribune.
He further said that he was served a warning letter last week blaming him for employing southern journalists who were not registered in Khartoum.
Before established his own newspaper, Nhial Bol worked for many years as Managing Editor at Khartoum Monitor of Alfred Taban who taught him to be critical of power and to have an independent spirit.
(ST)
Latest Comments & Analysis
National unity: a project for each and every South Sudanese 2013-05-21 14:23:01 By Jacob K. Lupai May 21, 2013 - South Sudan has just attained independence from an imposed unity that had failed miserably to take into account the objective realities on the ground. In the old (...)
Unity and reconciliation necessary for sustainable peace in Darfur 2013-05-21 14:19:47 By Adeeb Yousif May 20, 2013 -The biggest challenge in the Darfur conflict today is divisions. These divisions have created misunderstanding and mistrust within Darfurian society. Moreover they (...)
The Invasion of Abyei: two years of more agony 2013-05-20 05:39:13 By Luka Biong Deng May 19, 2013 - On 21st May 2013, the people of Abyei have spent two years of more agony and they will remember again the sad memories of how their lives and livelihoods were (...)
MORE