Launch of newspaper promoting peace and justice

The 'Sudan Mirror', the first national newspaper aiming to develop a culture of peace and justice in war-torn Sudan, is to be launched on Monday. About 30,000 copies of the bi-monthly English-language newspaper will be printed in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and either bought in bulk by NGOs and flown into Sudan for distribution, or sold in shops and refugee camps in Kenya, Uganda and England (and possibly other countries) for the diaspora. "It's an informational and educational paper, written by Sudanese, for Sudanese, about Sudanese," Dan Eiffe, director of the donor-sponsored project, told IRIN. "We would like it be used as a tool, encouraging literacy, but also so people can become engaged in the peace process." A team of about 20 reporters will file regular stories from various locations, through a network of offices in Rumbek, Yei, and Panyagor in Sudan, as well as Lokichokio and Nairobi in Kenya, and Koboku and Kampala in northern Uganda. All of the articles - which particularly target Sudan's literate youth - will be geared towards development and peace covering a wide range of issues from the environment, the economy, democratisation, gender issues, refugees and displaced people, reconciliation, education, human rights, the peace process, and health and HIV/AIDS. Eiffe stressed that the paper had a strict editorial policy of balance and neutrality. "We will not allow it to be used as a propaganda tool...our survival depends on it," he said. "The new war in Sudan is going to be a war over the hearts and minds of people to influence them on issues of separation and unity. We don't want to become a part of that." He added that every effort would be made to distribute the paper in the north of the country, and that he hoped to print copies in Arabic once the project got started. But already difficulties have been encountered. Two months ago, the Sudanese government adopted both the original title of the broadsheet, 'Sudan Vision', and its precise logo in a new daily government newspaper, forcing him to change the name. Earlier this week, two other newspapers in Sudan were temporarily banned - one reportedly because of an alcohol advertisement, the other because of inaccurate information about the effects of the peace process on the national army. In August, President Omar al-Bashir stated that press censorship had been lifted. In a recent report the Denmark-based International Media Support (IMS) said that most people in Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, had little or no access to any independent information on the "terrifying humanitarian costs" of the civil war. The "severe shortage of information" had also prevented any serious public debate on less controversial, non-military matters, it said. [For further information about the 'Sudan Mirror' write to: [email protected]]