Government withdraws case against independent paper

By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writer

KHARTOUM, Sudan, March 18, 2004 (AP) — Sudan’s only English-language newspaper, suspended since November for carrying critical reports, will resume publishing after the government dropped a case against it, the paper’s executive said Thursday.

But Alfred Taban, the Khartoum Monitor’s board chairman, said the independent daily was “told to observe a certain code of conduct” in its work.

The government suspended the license of the Khartoum Monitor on Nov. 24, saying that the paper was “a threat to society” and stability.

The Khartoum Monitor is known for criticism of conditions in southern Sudan, scene of a civil war for more than 20 years.

“We have been officially informed that the National Security Organ has withdrawn the case it had filed against us,” Alfred Taban told The Associated Press Thursday. He said he expected the daily to reappear on newsstands on Sunday.

The official Sudan Media Center said that the state had withdrawn the case against the Khartoum Monitor on condition that the paper “be committed to the general policies, laws and regulations governing journalistic work.”

The SMC added that withdrawing the case came after appeals by the Sudanese National Press Council.

The government also suspended in November Al-Ayam, Sudan’s oldest independent newspaper, accusing it of publishing articles that threaten national security. The ban on the paper was lifted in January and the daily resumed publishing in February.

The U.S. Embassy has criticized the suspension of Al-Ayam and Khartoum Monitor.

Sudanese governments have suspended newspapers and detained journalists in the past. In August, President Omar el-Bashir declared state censorship of newspapers would be lifted. But press restrictions have remained in place.