♦ This week’s news in brief ♦
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan’s highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan
A compact weekly digest of Dabanga Sudan's highlights of the news from Darfur and Sudan
♦ Dabanga Sudan satellite blackout 'shows Sudan's repressive media agenda'
March 6 – 2018 KHARTOUM Sudanese journalists and media experts have condemned the suspension of the Dabanga Sudan satellite programme by an Egyptian satellite service company last month. Sudanese Minister of Information Ahmed Bilal Osman confirmed in an interview that Khartoum issued a complaint about the Dabanga Sudan satellite programme to Egyptian authorities, which ordered the Egyptian Nilesat to suspend the uplink of the 24/7 news channel on February 18.
Because the suspension took place without prior notice to Radio Dabanga, the channel went dark until a new frequency at Eutelsat allowed transmission to resume the next day at 1pm.
Minister Bilal Osman recently accused Radio Dabanga of “incitement” and “causing instability in Sudan”, in an interview with daily newspaper El Mijhar. “As a result of our request, our Egyptian brothers responded to us in this framework.”
The Sudanese Journalist Network for Human Rights (JAHR) said that the request and shut-down disclosed the full security and media agenda of Arab media Ministers. The JAHR coordinator, journalist Faisal El Bagir, told Radio Dabanga yesterday that this decision signals a fierce attack on the press, one that he expects to be staged against independent news websites and newspapers in Sudan in the coming period.
Sudan remains near the bottom of the Reporters without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index. Facing heavy censorship, many print newspapers have shifted to digital formats to circulate censored or banned material on their websites and social media pages, press freedom NGO Freedom House reported. In January, the Sudanese authorities started confiscating newspapers and arresting journalists for their coverage of the price hike protests throughout Sudan.
♦Suspected cholera in Central Darfur: Dozens of new cases
March 6 – 2018 NIERTETI Medical isolation units receiving people suffering from ‘acute watery diarrhoea’ reported 26 new cases in western Jebel Marra in Central Darfur yesterday. New cases of what is suspected to be cholera appeared in the isolation wards in Nierteti, Kuweila, Korifal and Mara villages, a voluntary worker reported to Radio Dabanga.
The volunteer explained that the total number of cases held at these four centres in Nierteti and eastern Nierteti reached 88 patients by Monday. The four units held 77 patients on Saturday, people reported to Radio Dabanga. Last week the rate of new cases showed a slight increase or stability because wards dismissed several people.
This year, the death toll in Nierteti has amounted to 20 people, according to reports to Radio Dabanga. Eighteen people were reported to have died from acute watery diarrhoea in Nierteti in February, and two people died in this month so far.
‘Acute watery diarrhoea’ is the term the Sudanese authorities and several international organisations use for the disease of which the spread turned into epidemic proportions last year. Last week the Central Darfur Health Minister advised people living in the villages in the southern part of Jebel Marra (eastern Nierteti locality) to use donkeys to transport their infected relatives to the isolation centres because of the lack of transportation on the rough roads.
In the meantime the state Health Ministry has taken precautionary measures to combat the spread of the disease. Drinking water is being chlorinated and health teams are visiting the areas of concern in coordination with a number of local and international organisations.
More news from Radio Dabanga:
March 6 – 2018 BERBER A clash between police and people from Berber locality in River Nile state resulted in the death of one man, as protesters…
March 6 – 2018 GOLO The International Committee of the Red Cross has carried out its first distribution of essential household supplies in Golo, Jebel…
March 5 – 2018 SENNAR / KADUGLI / WAD MADANI People in eastern Sudan’s Sennar are suffering from the soaring prices and the ongoing shortages…
March 5 – 2018 KHARTOUM The police of Khartoum announced the arrest of three human traffickers holding 177 foreigners in the eastern part of the state on…
Water crisis in El Malha, North Darfur
March 4 – 2018 EL MALHA El Malha in the northern part of North Darfur is suffering from thirst after water pumps stopped working in the locality. Many…
March 2 – 2018 KHARTOUM The Sudanese armed movements have objected to the new call by the African Union that urged all parties to return to the Darfur peace negotiation table on the basis of a Sudanese peace treaty that dates from 2011.
March 2 – 2018 EL OBEID The health situation of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) chairman Omar Yousef El Digeir has deteriorated in detention, which has…
March 2 – 2018 KHARTOUM / DURDEIB Fuel shortages in the Sudanese capital resulted in queues of vehicles in front of fuel pumps on Thursday. Red…
March 1 – 2018 TAWILA / KABKABIYA Three people were shot dead and two wounded in an ambush by unidentified gunmen in the area of Libei in Tawila…
February 28 – 2018 DUBO EL OMDA A child was killed at Tala village 50 km west of Dubo El Omda in Tawila locality (popularly known as eastern Jebel…
February 28 – 2018 WASHINGTON / KHARTOUM In an op-ed in US News & World Report on Friday, Enough Project's John Prendergast writes that the US…
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