Committee to Protect Journalists urges warring parties to respect media organizations LONDON: The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed its concerns over the reported use by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group of state-owned media facilities in Omdurman as detention centers. The media watchdog has called on all parties in the ongoing conflict in Sudan to uphold the rights and safety of media organizations. The CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Sherif Mansour, said: “The RSF’s use of Sudan’s state television headquarters as detention facilities is extremely shocking and is a clear indication of the deteriorating press freedom in the country amid a deadly war. “The paramilitary group must immediately stop using media institutions as detention centers and protect these establishments from destruction.” The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate, an organization that documents abuse of reporters, warned on Thursday that the RSF had converted premises occupied by the Sudan Broadcasting Corp. into detention facilities and had been selling its broadcasting equipment in local markets. It also noted that equipment from the offices of Sudania 24 TV, Al-Balad, Al-Neel Al-Azraq, and the BBC, had been stolen and sold. According to a CPJ report, since the paramilitary forces started fighting the Sudanese army on April 15, the RSF had been in control of the state television headquarters. During the conflict, numerous journalists in the country had lost their lives, been shot, harassed, and detained while reporting on the fighting, the committee’s report added.