Banned Sudanese newspaper Al-Sahafah resumes publication

Al-Sahafah daily newspaper, on October 4, 2003

The [Khartoum-based, biggest-circulation newspaper] Al-Sahafah, has resumed publication today three days after it was suspended following an order given by the National Press Council.

The Press Council banned the newspaper after it published the word wine on its Monday [29 September] edition’s front page in an Ethiopian Airlines’ advertisement.

At the same time, during a press conference held on Thursday [2 October] the US charge d’affaires in Khartoum, Gerard Gallucci, expressed his astonishment over what he called ‘the farcical paradoxes’ of Sudanese policies, pointing out that at a time when President Al-Bashir and the first vice-president, Uthman Muhammad Taha, spread messages of peace in anticipation of a new Sudan, religious authorities are adopting contradictory stands.

The suspension caused wide international and regional reactions and the EU sent a memorandum to the Ministry of External Relations inquiring about the reasons behind the suspension.

For his part, the Al-Sahafa editor, while commenting on the suspension said: “the newspaper is concerned about promoting peace and not wines”.