The Ministry of Culture and Information of Sudan decided on Tuesday to suspend the work of three Arab news channels in the country. The concerned broadcasters are two Saudi Arabia state-owned channels, Al Arabiya and Al Hadath and the UAE-owned channel Sky News Arabia. According to the Ministry of Culture and Information, the ban is due to the mentioned channels’ lack of transparency and professionalism, in addition to their failure to renew the required broadcast license.

The director of Al Arabiya channel in Sudan, Lina Yaakoub, declared in an interview that none of the two Saudi channels (Al Arabiya and Al Hadath) had been officially notified of the suspension decision, precising that she and all of the Sudan-based staff were surprised to hear the decision on state TV. She also added that the suspended channels are considered foreign press and only the Office of Foreign Information of the Presidency of the Republic is authorized to issue such a decision.

The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) condemned the ban of the work of Al Arabiya, Al Hadath and Sky News Arabia and described it as a violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

The situation in Sudan has recently raised concerns amid the international community because of several human rights abuses on top of already existing humanitarian issues after an armed conflict erupted in April 2023, which made the working conditions of journalists extremely difficult and hazardous. The conflict arose between the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) over the powers of each group under a political agreement that was supposed to put an end to the existing political turmoil and pave the way to the formation of a civilian government and eventually establishing a democratic state based on the rule of law, gender equality and human rights.