♦ 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
♦ Restrictive Press Act amendments unite journalists in petition
November 14 – 2017 KHARTOUM Today, journalists have embarked on a campaign to collect signatures for their case to protest new restrictive amendments to the Press and Publications Act in Sudan. Also today Freedom House reported that people in Sudan who surf and publish content online faced numerous violations of user rights, obstacles to access the internet and limitations on their publications by the Government of Sudan during the last year.
Yesterday, journalists collected the first signatures for their protest against the draft amendments to the 2009 Press and Publications Act which the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting proposed last month. These reportedly require digital newspapers to register with the Sudanese Journalism Council, and allow the banning of newspapers and journalists from publication and writing.
“They were drafted overnight, without the knowledge of the press,” gathered journalists said in a workshop by the Sudanese Journalists' Union in the capital city on Sunday. The amendments have not yet been presented or discussed on a large scale, but a copy had appeared in a Sudanese newspaper.
Sudanese lawyer Nabil Adib told Radio Dabanga that the powers that would be granted to the Press and Publications Council and a new committee called the 'Registry Committee' are “mouth-sealing and contradict what is in the Sudanese constitution”.
♦ Four children die in South Darfur arms storage explosion
November 13 – 2017 NYALA Four children died in their family's house when an ammunition storage exploded in the South Darfur capital Nyala on Saturday. The children all belong to a family that lives in the residential district El Maasani. A fifth child was seriously injured by the explosion.
The incident took place 150 metres from where an arms storage exploded in May this year. This explosion emanated from the arms storage of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), killed 12 people and wounded at least 18 others. State government authorities largely remained absent in the days following the incident, which led to condemnations by victims and relatives of the deceased.
On Sunday the state's deputy governor, Sabeel Ahmed Sabeel, called on people to stay away from the affected area and not to touch any foreign objects in in El Maasani's streets. He announced that a joint police and military intelligence committee will inspect and collect remnants of the exploded ammunition storage.
Last May, a legal expert said that the government authorities are among the responsible for the casualties and damage caused to Nyala. “Keeping stockpiles of dangerous substances or explosives in civilian residential areas can endanger the lives of civilians,” he told Radio Dabanga.
Meanwhile, the collection of weapons that were illegally held by militiamen and civilians in Nyala city has resulted in 3,200 seized weapons so far. These are different kinds of light and heavy weapons. 6,000 weapons have been collected from the South Darfur localities, the state deputy governor told the press in Nyala.
More news from Radio Dabanga:
Two injured in Khartoum's brick factory protests
November 14 – 2017 KHARTOUM Two people were injured and four were arrested in a confrontation with the police in a district in Khartoum on Monday…
'Sudan limits online press, activists': Freedom House
November 14 – 2017 NEW YORK / KHARTOUM People in Sudan surfing and publishing content on the internet faced numerous violations of user rights, obstacles to access…
Student succumbs to bullet wounds in anti-mining protest, South Kordofan
November 13 – 2017 KOLOGI A person was killed and two were wounded in a demonstration in Kalogi, South Kordofan, against the gold mining companies in the area on…
Ex-rebels chase away militants near North Darfur camp
November 13 – 2017 KABKABIYA A clash broke out between former rebel fighters and a group of militants, east of camp Sortony in Kabkabiya, on Saturday…
Border Guards leader captured in North Darfur clashes
November 12 – 2017 KUTUM Sudanese paramilitary forces managed to capture Ali Rizgallah 'Safana', the leader of a recently defected faction of the Border Guards, after…
Gunmen kill two teachers in West Kordofan
November 10 – 2017 MUGLAD Two teachers were killed near a school in West Kordofan on Thursday evening. Gunmen stormed the dormitory for teachers in..
Darfur camp residents, farmers wounded in attacks
November 10 – 2017 GIREIDA / SIRBA Militiamen wounded three students in a camp for displaced people in South Darfur on Thursday, where a fire destroyed a number of houses three days…
Five Darfur children injured in grenade blast
November 9 – 2017 NYALA Five children were injured, some of them seriously, when a grenade they found at Sham El Naseem district in Nyala on Tuesday detonated…
Young farmer raped during South Darfur harvest
November 9 – 2017 MERSHING A young woman was raped was raped by militiamen as she harvested crops in Mershing locality in South Darfur on Monday…
Envoys of Norway and Britain hold talks in Khartoum on Sudan, Abyei
November 8 – 2017 KHARTOUM Envoys of Norway and the United Kingdom met with the Assistant to the President, Ibrahim Mahmoud, at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum…
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