Genuine free press is crucial for democracy in Sudan
By Alfred Taban, The Khartoum Monitor
May 30, 2006 — In the opening address of the joint National Congress Party (NCP) Leadership Bureau and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) Political Bureau last Saturday 27 May, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir praised the Sudanese media for drawing the attention of the country to diverse issues. This is the first occasion in a long time at which anybody in the ruling NCP has talked kindly of the Sudanese press. I hope the president’s comments are an indication that some fundamental changes are taking place in the government’s outlook, as far as the press is concerned.
The Sudanese people have always been, and still remain, the most democratic people in the Middle Eastern region, apart from the Lebanese. Sudan is the only country in the world that has toppled two notorious military dictatorships in popular uprisings and is in the process of defrocking the third.
The Sudanese press has followed the Sudanese people in their quest for democracy, and on the path to good governance with diligence. Like the other sectors of the Sudanese society, the Sudanese press suffered immensely from successive military regimes including the current one. I do not need to remind our readers of the sacrifice many of us, journalists, made to get us where we are today. The closure of newspapers, detentions, and torture of journalists were until recently the order of the day. However, many of us stood our ground, against all odds. The president may be for a freer press now but we are aware that many of his colleagues in the NCP are media unfriendly to say the least. They want to take away the gains of the media, which came in the most difficult of circumstances. These are the people that journalists and media practitioners should face.
Democracy, which the overwhelming number of the Sudanese people want and have struggled for, cannot be brought about unless there is a genuine free press. Together with an independent judiciary and a vibrant legislature, a free press would be able to lay a firm base for the setting up of a democratic society.
Free press and democracy are sides of the same coin. One cannot survive without the other. They usually suffer together and often flourish together. The first things military dictatorships usually do are disbanding political parties and closing down free newspapers. Then they arrest politicians and journalists. Human rights violations are often worse during dictatorships than in democracies. So while we have taken note of the president’s comments, we believe journalists are still to play our full role as stakeholders in the creation of a free and fair society in Sudan due to pressures from some of the members of the government. We will respond eagerly to the president’s praise if he weeds out the anti media elements in his administration.