Radio Silence

 Two newspapers in Sudan have gone on strike, and journalists at those papers have gone on a hunger strike, to protest state censorship ahead of elections.

''We are growing sick of these practices,'' said Salah Kajam, publisher of independent Ajras al-Hurria which means Freedom Bells in Arabic. He said state security agents regularly visit his paper's offices late at night to remove articles critical of the government, reports of violence in Darfur and mysterious outbreaks of fever in south Sudan among other things.

Sudan will be a country to watch in the next couple of years. The planned elections and the issue of a referendum on independence for the south are issues that threaten to further destabilize the region. Regarding the issue of indendence for the south, the fact that the power lies in the north while resources lie largely in the south make for a thorny situation. I taught English to Sudanese refugees in Kampala. Most of them were from southern Sudan, and most expected an ugly, and unfortunately also bloody, fight if the south makes a move for independence.