Sudanese journalists questioned over burial of chemical substances

December 7, 2015(Khartoum)- The Khartoum Attorney for Press and Publications last Thursday questioned the Editor-in-Chief of the Sudanese daily newspaper Al-Ayyam(Days) on a report the paper earlier published about the alleged burial of “dangerous chemical substances” in the vicinity of the Merowe Dam of Sudan’s Northern State.

The civil society group “Journalists for Human Rights’’ Monday said the paper’s Editor Mahjoub Mohamed Salih and the paper’s reporter Umayma Mubarak(who wrote the report in question ) were interrogated by the Attorney in the light of ‘’publication responsibility of the Press and Publican law ‘’.

It said the two journalists were questioned for half an hour each.

The paper’s report had said that ” the state of China had got rid of 60 containers loaded with dangerous substances that entered Sudan without customs checks.’’ It said 40 of those containers were buried in the ground while 20 others were just left in the open.

The paper’s report said the dumping of those containers was made during the construction of the Dam by Chinese contractors.

At the time of the paper’s report, press reports quoted Mohamed Siddiq , a former official of the Sudanese Atomic Energy Agency, as saying that the government of China had got rid of sixty containers stuffed with dangerous materials near the Merowe Dam.

Following these reports, the Sudanese National Assembly sent a committee of its members along with a number of specialists to the location. The committee said it had unearthed the containers and found them to contain paints , oils and empty cement packages buried in concrete manholes.

Each of the Sudanese security and the Dam’s Construction Unit had filed legal suits against journalist Umayma Mubarak for ‘’harmful publication’’. Umayma was also summoned to the Press Attorny’s office for questioning .

The Attorney had asked Umayma about her motivation for writing the report: was it in search of public excitement in order to beef up the paper’s publication or in order to share that knowledge with the public, according to Journalists for Human Rights.
(ST)