15 September 2016•Update: 17 September 2016
By Parach Mach
JUBA, South Sudan
South Sudan’s leading English-language newspaper was absent from newsstands Thursday after being shut down by the government.
The Nation Mirror was ordered to close a day after publishing a front page story on a corruption report into senior figures in the country’s political and military establishment.
A senior journalist at the newspaper, which was first published in 2012, also said the government had summoned the editor two weeks ago and demanded to know the identity of the author of a critical piece on the government. The Nation Mirror refused to give the writer’s name.
“There is no clear reason given by National Security to shut down the newspaper but we are quite aware that they have been demanding our paper avail an opinion writer who wrote an open letter to President Salva Kiir, accusing National Security of corruption and nepotism,” journalist Majack Kuany Alier told Anadolu Agency.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Nation Mirror focused on a report by The Sentry watchdog group, co-founded by Hollywood actor George Clooney, that accused Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and military chiefs of corruption and profiteering during the 2013-2015 civil war.
According to the Sudan Tribune’s online edition, the order to close said the Nation Mirror “indulges in activities that are... incompatible with their activities”.
The conflict in South Sudan has had a chilling effect on media freedom. At least eight journalists have been murdered since the war began in December 2013. In July, the Juba Monitor and the Arabic-language Al-Watan newspapers were shut down and their editors arrested. The Citizen newspaper and Free Voice radio have also been indefinitely closed.
Journalists report frequent obstruction and harassment by the authorities.
