KHARTOUM – RSF concluded that the image of Sudan as home to the 21st century's first genocide and closed off the world, was misleading. Rather than being monolithic and uncritical, Sudan's civil society and press are active and diverse, and the press reflects the voices of Sudanese human rights activists, academics and other civil society actors, who find it difficult to make themselves heard outside the country, it said. Even in Darfur, the RSF delegation found a real awareness of the unfolding crisis and the challenges ahead.

Reportedly, the national and foreign media face real obstacles in covering the "forgotten actors" and tend to only focus on the atrocities and suffering under a "hostile" government, failing to report on the root causes of the crisis. Besides the large number of armed factions, the absence of a "front line," the hostile terrain and the difficulty to distinguish between combatants and civilians, the government has erected a "bureaucratic fence," discretionary visas, special travel permits and blacklists, to regulate and influence the press.

Call on government for more open environment
RSF recommended that the Sudanese government take all necessary measures to open up the country to the foreign press; that international organizations take account of local realities and support the active civil society; and that the international media should not neglect the "forgotten actors," so they portray Sudan in all its diversity.

In Somalia, Reporters Without Borders and its partner organisation, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), have expressed outrage by the recent wave of violence in Mogadishu and the shelling and shooting of civilians, including journalists and news media personnel.

Papers close
A number of Mogadishu newspapers, including Xog-Ogaal, one of the capital's leading dailies, had to cease publishing because of the increased fighting in the city. Shabelle Media Network has also reported that it was unable to properly cover the situation in Mogadishu as so many of its journalists have fled the city with their families.

"The recent warfare is a perfect example of the increasing risks faced by journalists and media outlets in Mogadishu," Reporters Without Borders and the National Union of Somali Journalists said.

Article by courtesy of Reporters Without Borders

[30 Apr 2007 10:18]

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