Sudan promises to bring BBC Arabic back

January 25, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese minister of media, Abdula Massar, has promised to reverse the government’s decision that banned broadcasts of the BBC Arabic radio countrywide.

On 9 August 2010, Sudan took the BBC Arabic broadcasts off FM frequencies in four main cities, saying the decision had nothing to do with the reporting of the popular broadcaster, and everything to do with actions breaching the accord regulating the terms of its service and sanctity of national laws.

According to the Sudanese ministry of media, these actions included the BBC’s smuggling of satellite equipments through the British Embassy’s diplomatic courier.

Quoted by Sudan’s official news agency SUNA, the undersecretary of the Media Ministry, Abdul Dafi al-Tayyib, said that his boss, Massar, made the promise during a meeting on Wednesday with the British ambassador in Khartoum, Nicolas Kay.

The official said that Massar’s discussed with Kay common issues and the latter was particularly interested in the issues of press freedom in Sudan.

Kay, in the latest entry on his controversial blog which saw him being summoned by the authorities few times before, noted with regret that pressures on journalists and on those exercising their right to speak in Sudan are “again making the news” as the year 2012 begins.

Sudan exercises tight control over broadcast media while allowing newspapers a semblance of freedom that is fraught with redlines.

Two newspapers were shut down this month by the National Security and Intelligence Services which practices censorship on newspapers to prevent them from reporting on controversial issues.

(ST)