Last weekend, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir promised to release all journalists in his country. He said their release was an important step on the road to full press freedom. But will he keep his promise?

“Promises by presidents have not always been fulfilled. Right now, only one journalist has been freed, but others - and there are many more - haven’t. So we're weighing the value of his comments,” says Hildebrand Bijleveld, the Dutch editor-in chief of the independent Sudanese Radio Dabanga.

Dabanga is based in the Netherlands under the name Radio Darfur and broadcasts news and other programmes via shortwave to Sudan. Dabanga is not allowed to operate inside Sudan. The station is financed by the NGO Press Now, which supports independent media organisations all over the world. Radio Dabanga's offices in Khartoum were closed in 2010 after a raid by the Sudanese security police. Nine of its employees were detained.

Official journalists
Hildebrand Bijleveld stresses that the president has so far only made a promise. No decree has been published in Sudan’s Government Gazette - although reports on the move have appeared in some newspapers - so it is not clear what will happen.

A Sudanese journalist in the Netherlands, who - fearing reprisals - wants to remain anonymous, does not expect all the journalists to be released. The president only mentioned journalists who are officially registered, and not many of them are. In addition, he was only talking about journalists on remand. People who have already been sentenced will stay in prison.

Censorship
The main objective is to polish up Khartoum’s damaged image, says one Sudanese journalist in the Netherlands: “A journalist who has been held in custody without trial for ten months is free now. But nothing has changed for journalism in Sudan. It is a public relations exercise by the Sudanese government to show the outside world that it does treat press freedom properly. In reality, the censorship goes on.”

Mr Bijleveld thinks President al-Bashir’s promises may have been inspired by the peace agreement made last July, which brought an end to violence in the Darfur region. The agreement obliges the government to show clemency to human rights activists, lawyers and journalists. Rebel leaders from Darfur demanded this before they came to Khartoum to negotiate.

The agreement states that clemency must be shown by this week, but so far this had not happened, says Mr Bijleveld. A delegation of rebels is due to visit Khartoum later this week. This may have prompted more releases.

(nc/tf)