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Sudan Youth Radio Muzzled for 6 Weeks After Coup

Sudanese journalists rally in front of "Hala 96" radio station's headquarters in the capital Khartoum Mujahed Sharaf AL-DEEN SATI AFP
Sudanese journalists rally in front of "Hala 96" radio station's headquarters in the capital Khartoum Mujahed Sharaf AL-DEEN SATI AFP
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Sudan Youth Radio Muzzled for 6 Weeks After Coup

Sudanese journalists rally in front of "Hala 96" radio station's headquarters in the capital Khartoum Mujahed Sharaf AL-DEEN SATI AFP
Sudanese journalists rally in front of "Hala 96" radio station's headquarters in the capital Khartoum Mujahed Sharaf AL-DEEN SATI AFP

A lively youth-run radio station, Sudan's 96.0 FM was muzzled for 46 days after authorities banished the channel from the airwaves following an October 25 military coup.

"I felt like a person who had the ability to speak and suddenly stopped.. It's a painful feeling," Khaled Yehia, production manager of "Hala 96", told AFP from the station's headquarters overlooking the Nile in Khartoum.

Sudan, with a long history of military coups, has undergone a fragile journey toward civilian rule since the 2019 ousting of veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir following mass street protests.

A joint military-civilian transitional government took over, but the troubled alliance was shattered on October 25 when General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan launched a military coup that sparked international condemnation, mass protests and deadly crackdowns.

Despite the release of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok from effective house arrest, several radio broadcasts were silenced.

The information ministry refused to renew the license of Monte Carlo radio's Arabic service, which broadcasts from Paris, while the BBC's Arabic service was banned.

"All of the other radio channels were back on air two weeks after the coup except for Hala 96, BBC and Monte Carlo (RMC)," said Abiy Abdel Halim, Hala's programming manager.

"When we asked the authorities for the reason, we were referred to a military official who said there were orders from above regarding the editorial line of the station," he added.

Hala 96 was finally allowed to go back on the air on Thursday.

Founded in 2014 under the heavy-handed rule of Bashir, Hala Radio hit the airwaves with daily programs alternating between politics, culture and sports.

"We started playing patriotic songs that would mobilize crowds," when the demonstrations against Bashir in December 2018 began, Abdel Halim said.

"And we weren't even stopped back then save for one time and only for 24 hours".

Boasting a staff of 35 on-air presenters, journalists, technicians and administrators all under 40, they mirror the demographics of Sudan.

Youth represent about 68 percent of the country's 48 million-strong population.

On Wednesday, dozens of journalists protested in front of the radio channel's headquarters carrying banners with the words "Free Hala 96".

Throughout Bashir's dictatorial reign, Sudan ranked 174 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index. Following his ousting, it marginally improved to 159.

"What with propaganda, the Internet being disconnected and the crackdown on journalists, this military coup has jeopardized the fragile gains from the revolution," the Paris-based press freedom group said last month.

It described Sudan as a "very hostile environment" for media to operate.

Last week in a report submitted to the Security Council, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Sudanese authorities to "respect freedom of speech and of the press".

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Arab World

Israeli Army Reportedly Ignored Oct. 6 Intel Warning of Hamas Attack

(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Israeli Army Reportedly Ignored Oct. 6 Intel Warning of Hamas Attack

(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) This aerial view shows displaced Palestinians returning to the war-devastated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on January 19, 2025, shortly before a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas was implemented. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

On October 6, 2023 - less than 24 hours before the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war - Israel gathered intelligence indicating the Palestinian group was planning something for the following morning, Israeli Kan public broadcaster has revealed.

The information came through an intelligence-gathering operation, conducted via drones over the Gaza Strip, focused on the Hamas guards operating in the tunnel where Israel believed hostage Avera Mengistu was being held, the report said, according to an article published in The Times of Israel on Saturday.

Mengistu, a member of Israel’s Ethiopian minority and reportedly suffering from mental illness, entered Gaza by crossing a barbed wire fence in 2014, and was then arrested and held by Hamas. He was freed as part of a ceasefire deal in February this year.

The Times of Israel quoted Kan as saying that some piece of information obtained during that drone operation, though unclear, set off a red flag, and it was passed along to the Israeli army’s Southern Command.

The broadcaster, citing “sources,” claimed that the Command dismissed the intelligence as, in all likelihood, indicative of a Hamas training exercise, rather than an imminent attack.

The October 6 operation does not appear in the Israeli army’s records, nor has it been mentioned by probes into the events leading up to and during the subsequent terror onslaught, Kan said, adding that the reason for its omission is not clear.

Kan first reported on the intelligence operation earlier this month, but initially cited a source privy to the matter who said it had brought neither an intelligence breakthrough on Mengistu nor any indication of the imminent Hamas attack, The Times of Israel said.

It added that the Kan report comes about two weeks after Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir appointed a panel of experts to investigate the military’s failed handling of intelligence reports received since 2018, which outlined Hamas’s intent to launch a wide-scale attack against Israel, a topic not included in the army’s initial probes into the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Arab World

Tetteh Accuses Libyan Stakeholders of Stalling Political Progress

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)
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Tetteh Accuses Libyan Stakeholders of Stalling Political Progress

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Hanna Tetteh (Getty)

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Hanna Tetteh has accused Libya’s stakeholders of stalling political progress on the UN-backed roadmap intended to lead the country toward national election.

“Four months have elapsed since I first presented the Roadmap to this Council on 21 August and UNSMIL has been engaging Libyan stakeholders with regard to its implementation, which I admit has been quite challenging,” Tetteh told the Security Council in New York on Friday.

She said efforts to advance electoral preparations had failed to meet agreed timelines, despite repeated engagement with Libya’s rival political bodies.

She recalled that committees from the House of Representatives and the High Council of State had agreed in October to reconstitute the High National Elections Commission within two weeks, but “despite multiple efforts and engagements with these institutions, this did not happen.”

Tetteh said a subsequent agreement signed last November, under UN auspices, established a mechanism to select new HNEC board members, with a deadline of December 11 to finalize the process. That deadline also passed without action.

“It is my assessment that the delays are a manifestation of the lack of trust between the two institutions, their own internal divisions, and the inability to overcome their differences and agree on the way forward to resolve the current impasse,” Tetteh said.

She listed the obstacles facing the amendment of the constitutional and legal framework for elections.

Despite the setbacks, Tetteh highlighted the launch of a new UN-facilitated dialogue process held in Libya earlier this month, describing it as a key component of the roadmap.

On December 14 and 15 “UNSMIL launched the inaugural meeting of the Structured Dialogue which is one of the three core components of the Roadmap,” she said. “This is the first process of this magnitude to be held on Libyan soil.”

She said 124 participants included representatives from sovereign institutions, civil society, political parties, academia and cultural and linguistic groups, alongside other state institutions.

The dialogue aimed to define guiding principles for state-building, formulate political and legislative recommendations covering governance, economy, security, and national reconciliation.

On the economy, Tetteh said Libya's persistent financial fragmentation continues to undermine its dinar.

The UN envoy also said that the security environment in Tripoli has stabilized to a certain extent, however the situation remains fragile with sporadic outbreaks of armed clashes in southern Tripoli and elsewhere.

Tetteh commented on UN Security Council Resolution 2796 (2025) of October 31, which extended UNSMIL’s mandate for one year.

She said UNISMIL formed an internal task force to gradually implement key decisions and recommendations, due to limited resources.

Arab World

Sanaa's GPC Wing Deepens Submission to Houthis

A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)
A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)
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Sanaa's GPC Wing Deepens Submission to Houthis

A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)
A view of previous meetings of the General People’s Congress wing in Sanaa (local media)

A wing of Yemen’s General People’s Congress (GPC) operating in areas under Houthi control has moved to consolidate its alignment with the Iran-backed group, dismissing the party’s secretary general, Ghazi Ali al-Ahwal, and replacing Ahmed Ali Saleh, son of the late Yemeni president, with a figure closely associated with the Houthis in the post of deputy party leader.

The party’s General Committee, its political bureau, held a meeting in Sanaa on Thursday, chaired by Sadiq Amin Abu Ras, head of the party wing in Houthi-controlled areas.

The meeting ended with the selection of Abdulaziz bin Habtoor, the former head of the unrecognized Houthi government, as deputy party leader.

The move was widely seen as a direct response to public Houthi demands to remove the former president’s son, coupled with repeated threats to shut down the party and ban its activities.

The decision to sideline Ahmed Ali Saleh came after weeks of mounting pressure by the Houthis on the wing’s leadership.

Measures included tight security restrictions on Abu Ras’s movements and threats to dissolve the party and seize what remained of its political and organizational activity, citing the group’s full control over party headquarters and finances in Sanaa and other areas under its influence.

According to party sources, the Houthis did not stop at imposing the removal, but also demanded the appointment of a loyal figure as deputy leader in an effort to tighten their grip on what remains of the party’s decision-making structures and to prevent any potential communication with party leaders abroad or with rival political forces.

The most controversial decision was the final expulsion of al-Ahwal from party membership, around four months after his arrest by the Houthis on charges of communicating with party leaders outside the country, foremost among them Ahmed Ali Saleh.

At an earlier meeting, the wing had approved the appointment of Yahya al-Raai as secretary general to replace al-Ahwal, in addition to his role as deputy party leader alongside Abu Ras.

The party’s Organizational Oversight Authority submitted a report to the General Committee accusing al-Ahwal of harming party unity and national unity, violating internal regulations, the constitution and national principles.

The leadership used the report to justify the expulsion decision, which it said was taken unanimously, despite criticism that the secretary general remains detained under unlawful conditions without even minimal guarantees of defense or trial.

Houthi grip

Political sources in Sanaa said the appointment of bin Habtoor as deputy party leader was an attempt by the wing’s leadership to ease pressure and avoid a scenario in which the Houthis imposed a more hardline and openly loyal figure, such as Hussein Hazeb, whom the group had been pushing to appoint as first deputy leader or secretary general.

However, the same sources said the move did not prevent the Houthis from pressing ahead with their demand to permanently expel al-Ahwal, underscoring how limited the leadership’s room for maneuver has become and how key decisions are effectively made outside the party’s organizational framework.

In an apparent attempt to justify the moves, the General Committee said the General People’s Congress “has always been and will remain keen to resolve disputes within the framework of national unity,” speaking of visions related to decentralized governance and reducing centralization.

By contrast, senior party figure Jamal al-Humairi, who is based abroad, said the recent decisions were “an extension of a clear trajectory of Houthi pressure,” stressing that they were issued in a “kidnapped political and security reality” where intimidation and blackmail are used to subjugate a long-established party and strip it of its historic leadership.

He said organizational legitimacy “is derived from the grassroots, not from decisions imposed by force,” adding that the decisions “do not represent the party or its base.”

Internal anger

Inside Sanaa, party sources said there was widespread anger and rejection among party cadres over the decision to expel al-Ahwal, as well as criticism of the General Committee meeting for failing to address his detention or demand his release. They also cited frustration over the failure to address the siege imposed on the home of the wing’s leader and other senior figures.

Observers say the treatment of the Sanaa-based wing reflects a broader picture of political life being stifled in Houthi-controlled areas, where a single ideological vision is imposed on parties and only a narrow margin of activity is allowed for organizations that orbit the group.

Since the killing of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh at the end of 2017, the General People’s Congress has been deeply divided. Most of its historic leadership left Houthi-controlled areas without agreeing on a unified leadership abroad, while the Sanaa wing opted to adapt to the reality of Houthi dominance.

Meanwhile, Tareq Saleh formed a political bureau for the National Resistance Forces on the Red Sea coast, which has attracted party figures and members of parliament.

Analysts agree that the latest decisions mark a new stage in the dismantling of the party in Sanaa, turning it into a body stripped of independent will and operating under Houthi conditions, further entrenching the erosion of political pluralism in Yemen.