The chief editor of South Sudanese Arabic daily El Tabeer (“Expression”) Wazir Michael resigned Wednesday after the arrest of his colleague Joseph Afandi, saying he was being harassed by security personnel.

His resignation comes after National Security Service personnel verbally instructed the paper to cease publication.

At a press conference on Wednesday at the newspaper's building in Juba, Wazir Micheal said he resigned because security personnel said that they have a problem with him personally and so as not to hurt the interests of the newspaper he decided to offer his resignation.

Allison Jadden, El Tabeer’s manager, speaking at the same press conference, said that the administration of the newspaper do not want to accept the resignation of Wazir but he insisted on it.

The manager also confirmed the detention of journalist Joseph Afandi, arrested last night reportedly because of an article in which he criticized policies of the ruling party SPLM.

National Security personnel have taken issue with Wazir Michael several time previously including when he was editor in chief of Al Majhar Al Siyasi newspaper in 2013 when they objected to his coverage of a press conference held at the home of then vice president Riek Machar, and later in 2014 when they shut down Al Rai newspaper, which he was editing at the time.

The security service confiscated Wazir's passport in 2014 after he attending a conference in Egypt, saying that he had traveled without the authorization of the security.

El Tabeer newspaper is only about a month old. The paper was launched after Al Rai newspaper was closed down by National Security in August. At its launch, the paper announced that it would print an estimated 1500 copies daily, joining three other daily Arabic newspapers in the capital Juba.

NSS, a security organ that reports directly to President Salva Kiir, also continues to detain UN radio journalist George Livio after more than a year without charge. The security branch maintains an office for monitoring and controlling both state and independent media outlets. 

Photo (above): El Tabeer Manager Allison Jadden (left) with Wazir Michael (right) at a press conference in Juba today, 30 December 2015

Photo (below): Journalist Joseph Afandi, currently detained by the National Security Service in Juba