/ 7 July 1999

SUDANESE NEWSPAPERS SHUT

THREE Sudanese newspapers, including a pro-government one, have been suspended for publishing articles considered breaches of a press law. The Al Rai Al Akher, Alwan and Al Bayan dailies were on Monday served letters from the National Press Council ordering them to close down for three days, two days and one day respectively as of Tuesday. The Council said in its letter to the publishers of the independent Al Rai Al Akher that the Council’s Complaints Committee looked into s complaint by the armed forces over an article comparing two differently publicised air crashes in south Sudan last year in which military personnel and Vice-President Al Zubair Mohamed Saleh were killed. Another complaint is by the ruling National Congress against Al Rai Al Akher for an article last Saturday criticising the government’s performance.