Sudan press faces obstacles despite censorship end

The end of newspaper censorship as part of the repeal of Sudan's emergency laws will not guarantee press freedom while the government uses money and existing criminal laws to control journalists, editors say. The government says the Sudanese press has extensive freedoms and any controls still present are meant to encourage accountability.
About 12 daily newspapers operate in Sudan, where the government and former southern rebels signed a peace deal in January. The agreement led to a new coalition government and a constitution, which enshrines press freedom.
Direct censorship ended when the government lifted the state of emergency in most of the country on July 10, following the deal to end the north-south civil war.
But editors say laws that mention "national security" can still be applied to detain a journalist for publishing information the government does not want in the public domain.
The cost of newspaper licences also remains high, restricting publishing to the country's very rich, said Alfred Taban, chairman of the board of the Khartoum Monitor, an independent daily which began printing on Monday after being banned in June.
"There are many measures the government can still use to control the press ... There is money and the loosely worded laws that still apply," Taban said.
The US embassy in Khartoum, in its Sudan news digest, puts the cost of a printing licence at $10,000.
A senior Sudanese official, in written answers to questions, defended existing measures and the cost of a license, which he said were expensive to ensure newspapers had enough money to pay staff and to encourage the formation of large press companies. "Journalists are not sued without the prior notification of the journalists union," the senior government official said. "These laws are applied to protect the rights of individuals who believe they have been harmed by press reports," the official added without referring to laws that allow for custodial sentences.
Observers say three of Sudan's newspapers are independent, one is owned by the state and another two have extensive official ties. The rest of the periodicals are influenced by the government to varying degrees.
The editors said newspapers played a key role in forming public opinion in a country where television and radio news is government run.
"A lot of people depend on newspapers ... The government tries to control their output because it understands their influence," said Taban.
Before the end of the emergency laws, officials would read all of a newspaper's content before allowing it to be published, the journalists say.
Reports of government mistreatment of women and other civilians in areas of the country where rebels are fighting the government are among the issues that raise the government's ire, the journalists say.