Sudan journalists hope to enshrine freedoms with first union in decades
For the first time in more than three decades, Sudanese journalists have formed an independent union to shore up hard-won press freedoms that have been imperilled since last year’s military coup.
The newly-formed journalists’ syndicate held elections on Saturday, the first since ousted president Omar al-Bashir dissolved independent unions after rising to power in 1989.
“It’s a big step towards building the civilian democratic state that Sudanese people aspire to,” said Mohamed Abdelaziz, a member of the newly-formed syndicate.
Saturday’s ballot named as head of the syndicate Abdelmoniem Abu Idris, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse in Khartoum.
Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Sudan 151 out of 180 countries in its 2022 World Press Freedom Index, welcomed the “positive step”.
Pro-democracy groups in Sudan have also hailed the move.
“Press freedom was muzzled under Bashir,” said Hend Helmy, an assistant professor at the University of Khartoum’s media department.
“It will be a big challenge for the new syndicate as there is an entire generation of journalists who were brought up during this period.”
Press freedom was severely curtailed under Bashir, who was ousted in April 2019 on the back of mass protests.
Under his three-decade rule, authorities regularly targeted journalists and confiscated entire print-runs of newspapers for publishing articles deemed critical of Bashir’s policies.
His 2019 fall ushered in new press freedoms that saw local TV airing mass protests calling for civilian rule.
Media outlets ran articles with the protest slogans of “Freedom, Peace and Justice”.
‘Persecution of journalists’
A fragile transition was agreed in August 2019, heralding a break from decades of media censorship, repression and abuses under Bashir.
Under the transition, attacks targeting journalists largely diminished.
Critics appeared on local TV and ran op-eds lambasting the government’s performance.
