3 South Sudan Journalists Arrested, Radio Station Closed Over Planned Protest

Three journalists were detained and their radio station shut down in South Sudan. The curb on freedom of the media on Friday comes in connection with a nationwide protest called by activists for Monday, which will demand that the country’s leadership resign, AFP reported. Security officials reportedly believed that the radio station, Jonglei FM, an independent radio station in eastern Jonglei state, planned to air a call for people to attend the protests.  The station manager, the program manager and the editor-in-chief were all arrested and later released, though the radio station remained shut, a rights group and a journalists union told the French news agency AFP. Radio is the main avenue for Sudanese citizens to receive news. South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011 and was locked in a civil war for more than two years. A truce now is being more or less observed.