Assault on Alhurra broadcaster in Khartoum sparks boycott of coverage of Sudanese Armed Forces

Journalists in Khartoum are refusing to publish any news regarding the Sudanese Armed Forces until Friday after prominent activist and journalist Ali al-Daly was physically assaulted and injured on Monday afternoon by six military intelligence personnel.

The three-day boycott is part of several protest actions that a coalition of six professional associations of journalists have undertaken, an escalation around concerns about the relationship between the media and the military that was piqued by the attack on Daly. 

The journalists, who gathered in the streets of Khartoum on Tuesday and marched to a sit-in outside the cabinet building, are also demanding that swift steps be taken to restructure the Sudanese Armed Forces and other military institutions in the country, a task that was part of the mission conferred to the joint military-civilian Sudanese Sovereign Council that assumed government after the 2019 ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir. 

Daly played a leading role in representing the journalists’ division of the Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella trade union group that was one of the main players in the opposition Coalition for Freedom and Change that drove the revolution two years ago. 

Daly, who is currently a broadcaster with the US-funded Alhurra news in Khartoum, told Mada Masr that he was attacked by six people on Monday afternoon after a dispute broke out among citizens after a traffic incident on a street near the headquarters of the military intelligence. He said they continued to attack him even after he fell unconscious, while his colleagues rushed to get help from the nearest medical clinic. Daly said he is still awaiting the result of an MRI scan to determine how severely he is wounded and unable to walk without assistance.

The military intelligence issued a statement on Monday evening condemning the incident and describing it as a one-off, pledging that they would investigate it. The military also authorized the arrest of the accused individuals, as journalists and the country's information ministry mounted pressure for the perpetrators to be investigated by the Sudanese Public Prosecution and referred to civil trial.

But Sudanese journalist Walid al-Nour says that the behavior of regime forces is still far from keeping pace with ongoing political change in Sudan. “They [the military] practice methods that are not commensurate with the revolution and the change taking place in the country, even though the army is a party to the transitional period,” he said.

Yet, Monday’s attack on Daly in Khartoum is not the only recent instance of violence against reporters. Last week, a local broadcast team was robbed at gunpoint and beaten by men in plainclothes who claimed to be part of an armed group. It later transpired that they were also soldiers in military intelligence.

Restructuring the Sudanese Armed Forces and other organized militias has proven one of the more challenging aspects of the transitional constitutional agreement that Sudan’s military and civilian forces agreed upon after the revolution. In particular, the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary headed by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as “Hemedti,” who holds a senior position in the Sovereign Council, have retained substantial autonomy at the same time as exercising sway in the country’s governance. 

Working conditions have on the whole improved for journalists in comparison to the media climate under former President Omar al-Bashir. Yet, many remain concerned about persistent violations against the press and transparency around coverage of the army. Journalists have criticized the army under the tongue-in-cheek hashtag “to keep the army happy,” to which an advisor to the leader of the Sovereign Council, Colonel Al-Taher Abu Haja responded, publishing an article saying that a nation that “does not respect its army will one day lick the shoes of the enemy.”