Al Jazeera slams Sudan’s accusations of false reporting
By Wasil Ali
July 18, 2007 (DOHA) — The Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel blasted a statement issued by Sudan’s ruling National Congress party (NCP) accusing it of breaching “all journalistic and press ethics”.
“We are one of many news agencies and newspapers who quoted Nafi so why are they picking on us? This is ridiculous” Sheikh added.
Last Sunday Al-Jazeera quoted Sudan’s presidential adviser Nafi Ali Nafi as saying that Washington was behind the sabotage plot foiled in Khartoum over the weekend.
But the NCP issued a statement yesterday denying that Nafi made any mention of US involvement in the plot.
The statement accused Al-Jazeera of “working to incite and create sedition by contradicting all the news headlines of newspapers and other news agencies which had covered the story”.
Sheikh criticized singling out Al-Jazeera by the Sudanese government and said that “We cannot be blamed for being widely popular. Do they want us to curtail our news coverage?”
The secretariat of the NCP called on Al-Jazeera “to correct the news and to apologize in order to keep its credibility and neutrality”.
However Sheikh rejected the call for an apology saying the news story was “well sourced and verified”.
Sudan’s denial of US involvement brings into the spotlight contradictory statements by Sudanese officials regarding foreign links to the sabotage plot.
Last week Sudanese security officials said that the sabotage plot leader Mubarak al-Fadil sought help from a neighboring Arab country and a “major world power”.
Sources told Sudan Tribune that the countries in question are Libya and the United States respectively.
However Sudanese officials later tried to downplay any foreign role in the operation.
NCP statement said that “It has not been confirmed up to now whether any foreign or local quarters were involved in this action. Only the party is known to have been involved with two of its leaders giving political cover to the operation.”
But security officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity said al-Fadil had sought support from Libya. The officials said Libya had turned him down and informed Sudanese authorities.
Sudanese security services on Saturday arrested the leaders of the Umma Reform and Renewal opposition party over allegations of planning sabotage across the country.
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David Mayen Deng
Al Jazeera slams Sudan’s accusations of false reporting
I am still of the view that the alleged coup plot is staged. Just as the military presented a memorandum to the government of Al-Sadiq Al-Mahadi , which prepared the street for an eminent change in government before the 89 coup. And just as the game was played before when all forces are in favor of a lasting peace for the Sudanese people, especially through giving South Sudan greater autonomy, this is just history repeating itself under the watch of the Sudanese people. Al-Bashir’s government has been accused by the traditional forces (Umma, DUP, and NIF) of jeopardizing the unity of the country and with it the grand Arabization-Islamization project; he consents to handing over government, and the rolling back to ground zero begins- yet again. Could we (the Sudanese People) be so naïve and blind that we can not see that? If we do nothing then let our fate and the fate of posterity continue to be a football tournament for the incompetent traditional forces of Khartoum
David Mayen Deng