Daily Darfur: Obstruction Junction

Published October 26, 2008 @ 10:15AM PT

Obstructing the flow of information and silencing critics is never a good sign that an oppressive regime is amenable to peace.

In part of a crackdown against media and civil society discussion of the crisis in Darfur, the Sudanese government continues to hold a Darfuri journalist incommunicado, after arrested him over 2 weeks ago:

The journalist, Nurredin Braima, 35, was detained on Oct. 11 after he translated into Arabic comments from a displaced woman from Darfur at a press conference for a visiting Qatari diplomat in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, Salah Kajam, publisher of the daily Freedom Bells, said Saturday.

Freedom Bells, which is affiliated with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), has also been subject to frequent government harassment and interference:

Kajam said he decided not to print his daily on Thursday after s ecurity officials visited his print shop late the previous night and removed seven articles and opinion pieces about Braima's arrest.

Sadly, violation of freedom of the press is nothing new in Sudan, and it goes hand-in-hand with the government's tightening stranglehold on humanitarian access, described by my co-blogger Michael. The Sudan Tribune keeps a collection of related articles here.

{Political cartoon from the Juba Post.]

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Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.