May 27, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) is conducting technical studies on social networking sites, particularly Facebook and Whatsapp, in a bid to find ways to control their use in the country.

NTC has complained in the past that these sites are creating negative as a result of indecent material on it that runs against the customs and traditions of the Sudanese society.

But many observers believe that this is an attempt to prevent leak of information on government corruption relating to senior figures.

The minister of communications in a report submitted to parliament last week acknowledged the difficulty of controlling Whatsapp and the security and political problems caused by social networking sites.

There has been reports that the Ministry of Culture and Information in Khartoum state is seeking to block both sites through the use of sophisticated equipments. But the ministry denied any role in blocking internet sites.

Mustafa Abdul-Hafeez, the director of technical management at the NTC, told government-sponsored Sudan Media Center (SMC) website that they are monitoring all material circulated on social networking sites.

He called for optimising the use of technology for the benefit of the citizen and said that many countries are suffering from materials circulating on these sites.

(ST)