JUBA, Sudan, Sept 7 (Reuters) - A south Sudanese newspaper editor on Sunday said he would defy a suspension of his publishing licence by getting his daily printed outside the country.

Nhial Bol said he would import his paper, The Citizen, and distribute it himself in south Sudan, in a direct challenge to Khartoum's historic hold over the country's publishing industry.

Sudan's Khartoum-based media regulator, the National Press Council, suspended The Citizen's licence last week, effectively shutting it down until further notice.

The regulator said it was for "administrative reasons". But Bol, based in Juba, capital of Sudan's semi-autonomous south, claimed it was because he was employing journalists seen as hostile to the government.

On Sunday, Bol took out adverts in other national papers saying: "(The Citizen) will be printed in south Sudan's neighbouring countries and will be distributed all over south Sudan." He was not immediately available for further comment.

Earlier this week the regulator said it had lifted a similar suspension on another English-language newspaper, the Sudan Tribune, after reaching a deal with its southern-based editor.

Tribune editor William Ezekiel said the ban was lifted after he agreed to appoint an acting editor-in-chief to represent him in Khartoum. He added he was also planning to start printing his paper in Kenya to avoid what he described as Khartoum censorship and hostility to southern journalists.

North and South Sudan fought Africa's longest war until a peace deal in 2005 that created a north-south coalition government, shared oil wealth and guaranteed freedom of the press. But relations between the former foes have been strained ever since.

(Writing by Skye Wheeler, editing by Andrew Heavens and Robert Hart)

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