Sudan says ends press security censorship – radio

KHARTOUM, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir issued a decree on Tuesday lifting censorship by the security service of newspapers, after a recent pledge to increase political freedom in Africa’s largest country.

State radio said the decree entrusted the role to the national press council asking it to “protect the highest interests of the country”. It was not immediately clear how independently the council would act or its precise task.

One journalist said the council was elected by journalists but tended to reflect government thinking.

The radio report said Bashir, who heads an Islamist government that came to power in a military coup in 1989, issued the decree in response to requests by opposition parties.

A newspaper earlier reported that Bashir told members of political parties and civil society groups on Saturday that new measures to provide greater political freedom would include reviewing a list of detainees and ending media censorship.

Over the past few years Sudan has allowed greater, albeit erratic, press freedom. The government said in late 2001 it had lifted censorship of all the country’s main daily newspapers, but several have said the curbs remain.

Sudan recently freed 32 political prisoners in what analysts said could be an attempt to broaden support for ongoing peace talks in Kenya with the southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement to end a 20-year-old civil war.