ARTICLE 19 observes that little progress has been made to protect freedom of expression in South Sudan. Authorities, especially the National Security Service (NSS) continue to harass, intimidate, and arbitrarily detain journalists. As a result, freedom of expression has been increasingly eroded in South Sudan since independence in 2011, a situation which escalated following the outbreak of internal armed conflict in mid-December 2013.
Source and full submission text: Article 19

Zimbabwe should abolish its Censorship Act and any prior-censorship bodies or systems, according to a joint stakeholder submission to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process (UPR) by Freemuse and Nhimbe – two civil society organisations defending artistic freedom in Zimbabwe and globally. Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution guarantees the right to freedom of artistic expression. However, several laws significantly limit artistic freedom, and practices of the police and government agencies create an environment of fear and self-censorship. The new report was filed ahead of Zimbabwe’s second cycle Universal Periodic Review – the UN system’s official mechanism for reviewing all member states human rights records in cycles of four and a half years – that will take place on 2 November 2016 in Geneva.

Source: Freemuse
Freemuse has held Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2012 and has previously submitted UPR stakeholder reports on artistic freedom in Belarus, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey and the United States. 

The coordinated attack against three beach hotels took place on Sunday March 13 at Grand-Bassam, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Abidjan. Heavily armed gunmen killed about 22 civilians, among them Henrike Grohs, the head of the Goethe Institute in Abidjan. Foreign citizens from France, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon were also among the victims. Al-Qaeda’s wing in North Africa, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Source: Deutsche Welle

On February 9 the play “Ghaybouba” (Coma) by Mahmoud El Toukhy, directed by Shady Soroura and starring well-known Egyptian actor Ahmed Bedeir, has been banned by the governorate of Suez after public complains over the play’s tarnishing of Egypt’s 2011 Revolution. The governorate of Suez is home to the first martyrs of the 25 January uprising against Mubarak in 2011. “Coma” was produced by Theatre House (Beit El Masrah El Fanni), a body that operates under the culture ministry.
Ahram online reports that the actor Ahmed Bedeir is an outspoken critic of the January revolution and continues to be a staunch supporter of the Mubarak regime. In January, the city of Hurghada in the Red Sea governorate hosted “Coma” where Governor Ahmed Abdallah presented Bedeir with an honorary governorate shield.

Source: Egypt: Theatre play banned in governorate of Suez « Artsfreedom; Ahram online

Cairo’s non-profit Townhouse Gallery reopened its doors on 15 February after beeing closed by censorship and tax authorities for two months. Despite reopening, the space is still facing challenges from administrative entities.  Townhouse’s staff got permission for two weeks, to make necessary changes to various permits and regulations.

Sources: Ahram online, Artsfreedom.org