Algeria Newspaper Liberte Closes after 30 Years

Algeria's French-language newspaper Liberte ran its final edition on April 14. (AFP)
Algeria's French-language newspaper Liberte ran its final edition on April 14. (AFP)
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Algeria Newspaper Liberte Closes after 30 Years

Algeria's French-language newspaper Liberte ran its final edition on April 14. (AFP)
Algeria's French-language newspaper Liberte ran its final edition on April 14. (AFP)

Prominent Algerian newspaper Liberte printed its last issue on Thursday, three decades after it was established and a week after its owner, the country's richest man, decided to liquidate it.

The French-language daily newspaper's front page resembled an obituary, with a black band at the top and the title in red: "Thank you and goodbye."

"After 30 years of intellectual adventure, Liberte is finished," the first page read.

"The curtain has fallen on Liberte, our newspaper, your newspaper, which for 30 years carried the ideals of democracy and freedom, and was the voice of Algeria moving forward."

The North African newspaper also published a final cartoon from its well-known cartoonist Dilem: a picture of a coffin bearing the name "Liberte" with a hammer and a nail on top, with the caption: "The final closure".

Issad Rebrab, who has faced a campaign to keep the newspaper running, wrote in an editorial that the newspaper's "economic situation" meant it was no longer viable.

Forbes magazine this month classed Rebrab as the Arab world's second-richest man, with a fortune of some $3.8 billion (3.5 billion euros).

He also announced that said he was retiring and that his successors at his company Cevital had wanted the paper to close.

Algerian media went through something of a golden age after protests against the country's one-party system in 1988, but several titles have closed since the turn of the millennium, mostly due to falling sales and advertising revenue.

Several journalists are in prison or facing trial, notably for defamation of political figures or because of social media posts.

The country ranks 146th out of 180 on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index.



RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.