South Sudan's National Security Service confiscated the print run of the daily newspaper Juba Monitor on Wednesday.

They threatened to arrest senior management and shut the paper down indefinitely should it continue to defy the government’s directives to stop covering the ongoing debate over federalism, its Editor in Chief, Alfred Taban told Sudan Tribune.

The closure came after the presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny first assured on Eye Radio in Juba that his government had not stopped media houses to report about federalism.

He said the public are free to discuss the federal government system, which shares powers between central and local authorities.

“Article 24 in the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan talks about freedom of expression and this freedom of expression allows you to talk about anything,” Ateny added. “But there are redlines, because the country has its authority, but you are not allowed to glorify rebellion in the media inside South Sudan.”

On Tuesday, Information Minister Michael Makeui Lueth also told the Editors' Forum, a group of South Sudanese media leaders, that security services had not ordered anyone to refrain from covering the fedarlism debate.

"We in the government have not issued any directives or any orders to all media houses to stop publishing or talking about federalism," he said.

Taban described the actions of the government agents as “unconstitutional,” saying he feared it was the continuation of a crackdown on civil groups critical of the performance of the government.

He said the incident was an ominous sign for freedom of expression in the country.

South Sudan’s rebel faction under the leadership of former vice-president Riek Machar is strongly advocating in favour of federalism.

National security previously confiscated an issue of the Juba Monitor in January because of two articles they deemed objectionable.

Photo: Juba Monitor Editor-in-Chief Alfred Taban (VOA)