Hopefully, with the sovereignty of the new state of South Sudan being consolidated, the practice of Northern Sudanese enslaving South Sudanese will come to an end.

Indeed, this announcement from Sudanese President Omar al Bashir ought to reassure the freedom-loving people of that nation (well, aside from the slave-holders, of course):

"Freedom is granted for all the people. We are not afraid. We do not prevent the people from expressing their opinions, but rather we listen to them and we want to know their demands and their legitimate aspirations," said al-Bashir when addressing a people's gathering in North Sudan on Sunday that was aired live by Sudan TV.

That's fantastic! But wait a second. If he says Sudan is now a land of freedom where people can legitimately express their opinion, then why are Sudanese authorities beating protesters?

Sudanese security forces have beaten and arrested dozens of protesters at an anti-government rally in downtown Khartoum.
 

Witnesses say about 500 police, many wielding batons, moved in against the protesters Wednesday soon after the rally began in Khartoum's Abu Janzeer square.
 

In the short time they demonstrated, the protesters called for the downfall of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

...

On Tuesday, police beat and arrested more than 40 women as they tried to stage a rally outside the capital. The women gathered in Omdurman to protest against rape and human rights abuses. They also wanted to highlight the case of a female activist who was allegedly raped after her arrest last month.

A dictator wouldn't lie to his own people, would he? Oh, right.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist