Authorities order newspaper closure

The Sudanese National Press Council on Thursday ordered a two-day closure of the English language daily 'Khartoum Monitor' for taking a senior government adviser's comments out of context, news agencies reported. The Council's complaints committee decided the newspaper would be closed on Friday and Saturday (12 and 13 October) for violating the law and the press code by "failure to observe accuracy and misquoting an official's statement on self-determination", AFP reported on Thursday.

The 'Khartoum Monitor' had quoted presidential peace adviser, Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani, as saying at a press conference on 5 October that the government would consider proponents of self-determination in southern Sudan as enemies, since it could lead to partitioning of the country. Salah al-Din complained that the newspaper had given the impression that he was against self-determination in the constitution; he said he was only against "self-determination that leads to separation of the south from the north", reports added. The Press Council criticised the paper for failing to report the full text of Salah al-Din's statement.

This is the second time the paper has been suspended in the last month. It was closed down for three days in September for publishing statements by an official in southern Sudan which accused the north of plundering the riches of the south. The Council then judged that the publication of the statements could lead to "religious and racial discord," according to Reuters news agency.