Oh dear. The new nation of South Sudan is already sprouting some early teething troubles about media freedom.

Apparently, President Salva Kiir Mayardit (above) “handed over his beloved beautiful elder daughter,” one Adu Mayardit, to her husband in a wedding ceremony held in the Catholic Cathedral at Rajaf.

One would usually imagine that this would be a joyous occasion, though full of tears appropriate for the tradition of “handing over” (and thereby “losing”) an elder daughter. Instead, Dengdit Ayok, the deputy editor for The Destiny newspaper in the capital Juba, wrote in a now ill-fated column, that the wedding was

attended by a small crowd of people with clouds of sadness gathered in their hearts as it was clear from their faces…because they were upset by the decision taken by the President to give his daughter in wedding to a stranger.

Ayok felt the Sudanese could have exploited the wedding the same way the British monarchy and media did to their young earlier this summer. Instead Ayok only “… witnessed a disappointing social episode.” He claimed the wedding “was found disgusting and denounced by many patriotic South Sudanese across the country.”

Why so disgusted? Was the man a pariah of epic proportions? A war criminal, perhaps?

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