Sudan newspapers and Arabic-language media

The Sudanese press is written mainly in Arabic, with a few English titles: Sudan Tribune, Al Rakoba, Al Sudani, Sudan Akhbar and Radio Dabanga lead online news, while the SUNA agency and state television carry the official line since the 2023 war.

Over a century of newspapers in Khartoum

The first Sudanese newspapers appeared under the Anglo-Egyptian condominium in the early twentieth century. After independence in 1956, dailies such as Al-Ayam, founded in 1953, accompanied a political life alternating between parliamentary periods and military regimes.

A press upended by the 2023 war

Since 15 April 2023, fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces has hit Khartoum, home to the printing presses and newsrooms. Many dailies have suspended their print editions, and many journalists now work from Port Sudan or abroad.

Which dailies can you still follow?

Al Sudani, Al-Tayar and Akhbar Al-Youm were among the leading Khartoum titles before the war. Their publication has become irregular, but some still maintain a website or an online page, often updated from exile by scattered editorial teams.

Arabic, the dominant language

Arabic is the language of nearly all the press, the agencies and television. English survives through Sudan Tribune and Sudan Horizon, and the regional languages of Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile are heard mainly on the radio.

Online newspapers and the diaspora

Al Rakoba and Sudanile, run largely by Sudanese living abroad, publish news and widely read opinion columns. The diaspora settled in the Gulf, Egypt, the United Kingdom and the United States feeds these platforms and debates on social media.

Sudan Tribune and Radio Dabanga

Sudan Tribune, a website founded in Paris in 2003, publishes in Arabic, English and French. Radio Dabanga, based in the Netherlands, specialised in Darfur and now documents the war across the whole country, in both Arabic and English.

SUNA, the official agency

The Sudan News Agency, or SUNA, distributes statements from the Sovereignty Council, ministries and governors. Its dispatches in Arabic and English give the official position, which should always be compared with independent media and humanitarian sources.

Radio Omdurman and national television

Radio Omdurman, created in 1940, and Sudan TV make up the public broadcaster. Their Omdurman premises were at the heart of the fighting in 2023, and their programmes have been relaunched from other cities, with broadcasting that varies over time.

Darfur, Kordofan and the regions

Regional coverage relies on Radio Dabanga, networks of correspondents and local committees posting on social media. For El Fasher, Nyala or El Obeid, these testimonies need to be cross-checked against reports from United Nations agencies.

Economy, the pound and football

The economy is tracked through the Sudanese pound, gold, the port of Port Sudan and humanitarian aid, topics covered by Sudan Horizon and Al Sudani News. In sport, the Omdurman clubs Al-Hilal and Al-Merrikh remain the most followed.

Journalists under pressure

The 2019 revolution that toppled Omar al-Bashir had loosened censorship, before the coup of October 2021. Since 2023, press freedom organisations have reported journalists killed, detained or displaced, along with prolonged telecommunications blackouts.

Reading Sudan alongside its neighbours

To cross-check, compare the Sudanese press with the South Sudanese press, the Egyptian press, which hosts many refugees, or the Chadian press close to Darfur, as well as the major pan-Arab media of the Gulf.

How to follow Sudanese news from abroad

1. Read Sudan Tribune in English or French for an overview, then Al Rakoba for debates in Arabic.
2. Add Radio Dabanga for news on Darfur and the combat zones.
3. Check SUNA dispatches for official announcements issued from Port Sudan.
4. Compare the versions of both armed camps with humanitarian sources before accepting a casualty figure.
5. Use machine translation for Arabic sites and double-check transliterated place names.
6. Verify the date and origin of shared videos, which are often recycled from one round of fighting to the next.

Access to Sudanese media

Reference points on the Sudanese press

• Languages: Sudanese Arabic and Standard Arabic, English for a few titles
• Official agency: Sudan News Agency (SUNA)
• Public broadcaster: Sudan TV and Radio Omdurman
• Press centres: Khartoum before 2023, Port Sudan and exile since
• Time zone: UTC+2, Central Africa Time
• Currency: Sudanese pound (SDG)

Reading traps when following Sudan

• Confusing Sudan with South Sudan, two separate states since 2011 whose media often report on each other.
• Sharing a combat video without checking its date or location, when old footage circulates on a massive scale.
• Mistaking a propaganda account of a party to the conflict, the army or the Rapid Support Forces, for an independent outlet.
• Assuming a Khartoum newspaper still appears in print because its website is still publishing articles.
• Relying on a single source for death tolls, which differ sharply between camps, media and international organisations.

Questions about the press in Sudan