JUBA, July 18 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan has blocked two news websites over what it called hostile reporting and operating without following government regulations, a senior government official said Tuesday.
Government Spokesman Michael Makuei told Xinhua by phone that the government blocked access of Radio Tamajuz and Sudan Tribune websites in South Sudan due to their reporting style and for failing to adhere to regulations.
He accuses the news websites of inciting violence and spreading hate speech.
Netherlands-based Radio Tamajuz posted a statement on its social media page Monday evening advising its readers to follow their news on social media and through emailed newsletters.
The France-based Sudan Tribune has not responded to the shutdown.
"Anybody who is working here in South Sudan and not following the rules, anybody who is working here in South Sudan and is encouraging hate speech and anybody who is in violation of laws and regulations and anybody who doesn't want to be regulated will not be allowed to continue," Makuei said.
South Sudan has been embroiled in more than three years of conflict that has taken a devastating toll on the people of South Sudan.
A peace pact signed in Addis Ababa in 2015 under intense international pressure was shattered again following renewed violence between rival government and opposition troops in the capital Juba in July 2016.
The conflict has since spread to other regions which enjoyed relative peace, causing mass displacement of least 3.5 million people from their homes, ethnic polarization and tribal violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.
