South Sudan

George Livio Bahara, a South Sudanese journalist for Radio Miraya, was released after spending almost 3 years in detention without charges.

The ban follows a series of Al-Jazeera reports about the ongoing clashes between government forces and rebel troops. The Qatari TV news channel reported on 20 April that many civilians had been displaced by fighting in the southern county of Kajo-Keji.

Three months, 90 days, more than two thousand hours without news of Dong Samuel Luak, a well-known South Sudanese activist, and Aggrey Idris, an opposition official, who disappeared off the streets of Nairobi on January 23 and 24.

“Dong Samuel Luak has been a vocal advocate for human rights in South Sudan for many years, and could face serious mistreatment if returned to South Sudan,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“Dong Samuel Luak has been a vocal advocate for human rights in South Sudan for many years, and could face serious mistreatment if returned to South Sudan,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

The African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) joins the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) to strongly condemn the arbitrary closure of Eye Radio station by the South Sudan National Security Service (NSS).

The African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) has petitioned President Salva Kiir over the closure of the country’s leading private paper, The Nation Mirror. In September, the National Security Service ordered the indefinite closure of The Nation Mirror without any explanation.

On the evening of 27 October, armed robbers broke into the offices of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan and took laptops, a camera, a TV and a safe.

A workshop organized by AMDISS encouraged journalists in South Sudan to discuss challenges to freedom of expression, learn about media legislation, and commit to advocating for effective media laws.

“It is clear that past investigations into killings of journalists have not yielded any fruitful results. We therefore appeal to the authorities concerned to include representatives of journalists unions, editors and media associations in any committee formed to investigate any incidence involving journalists.”

“It is clear that past investigations into killings of journalists have not yielded any fruitful results. We therefore appeal to the authorities concerned to include representatives of journalists unions, editors and media associations in any committee formed to investigate any incidence involving journalists.”

The Nation Mirror‘s staff told by national security office to cease operations following weeks of government censorship.

Following an outcry by the local and international community, including a statement issued by the African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX), Alfred Taban was granted bail on 29 July 2016.

On July 16, 2016, agents of the National Security Service arrested Alfred Taban, Editor-in-Chief of Juba Monitor, an independent English language daily newspaper in South Sudan. The security service accused the journalist of inciting violence, and consequently shutdown the Juba Monitor on the same day.

The authorities had recently held reporter Joseph Afandi incommunicado for two months for criticizing the government’s handling of the civil war, which has dragged on for more than two years.

“The persecutions will not go away,” Ochan Hannington, a journalist living in exile, told CPJ. “You report accurately, you face it rough. You say what the government wants to hear, you survive. I see either a compromise in the ethics or continued fleeing of journalists.”