♦ This week’s news in brief ♦

♦ Chikungunya outbreak declared in parts of Kassala

September 11 – 2018 KASSALA The federal Ministry of Health has confirmed the outbreak of the virus chikungunya in Kassala state, two weeks after the first reports about the mosquito-borne fever appeared on the news. The head of the emergency department at the ministry, Dr Leila Hamad El Nil, said that there are 6,250 cases of chikungunya in Sudan’s northeastern state on Monday.

She pointed out that most cases have been recorded in Kassala, the state capital, and the rest is mainly centred in the areas of western El Gash, and some districts of eastern El Gash. El Nil said that the virus “does not lead to death”.

A health source reported to Radio Dabanga from Kassala that the chikungunya virus, locally known as kankasha, is spreading in an unprecedented manner. “You find patients in each and every home in Kassala,” he said. “The health centres and clinics in the state are overcrowded.”

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♦ NISS bans reporter, seizes newspapers in light of 'red lines'

September 11 – 2018 KHARTOUM A Sudanese reporter was banned from writing for El Saiha newspaper and from appearing on satellite TV. Columnist Abdelbagi El Zafir told Radio Dabanga: “This decision is a sad one.” El Zafir had published details of a closed meeting of the ruling party, the NCP, when it decided to amend the constitution to make President Omar Al Bashir’s third presidential term possible. The ban happened against the background of the new Press and Publications Act, approved in June, which has provided for the suspension of journalists from writing.

El Saiha copies were confiscated by the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) on Monday. On Friday the security apparatus confiscated the print runs of El Jareeda, El Tayyar, and El Rai El Aam. In these cases, the NISS officials did not simply delay distribution as it was in the past, where the copies would be returned after 8am. The security service routinely seizes copies of newspapers, to either prevent circulation of certain articles or to punish them retroactively for breaching the unwritten red lines. More often than not the moves inflict financial losses on the affected news media.

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