Weblog nr 27
July 7, 2006

Last weekend UN Radio Miraya (Mirror) FM 101 started to broadcast in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, and in a circle around the city with a diameter of about two hundred kilometers. President Salva Kiir inaugurated the radio station by cutting a ribbon, revealing a beautiful mural painting of a rural scenery with people listening to the radio. In that picture the radio does not have a central position, like in well-known advertisements in the 1930s, showing families gathering around the new miracle, captivated by its message. On the contrary, in the picture unveiled at the opening ceremony life continues: people are working, children are playing, and somewhere in a corner a radio sends its tunes and messages. That is how it will be in South Sudan: people doing their things, while at the same time hearing music, news, information, entertainment, commentaries and discussions about the life they are living and about the social and political environment of their daily existence.

In his opening speech President Kiir committed himself to press freedom. He promised that his government would be accessible to the press. He gave a good example during the press conference following the inauguration - the first press conference in Southern Sudan ever broadcast life - , answering all questions thoroughly, without exception. Journalists from both North and South Sudan used the opportunity well, asking questions about sensitive actual themes, such as the rejection by President Beshir of a United Nations peace keeping force in Darfur and the dismissal of the Governor of Western Equatoria. Far from a window-dressing in an opening ceremony, the press conference was a real event.

Freedom of the media is crucial in a society striving for democracy. For peace to become sustainable democratization is essential. A country can only be characterized as a true and meaningful democracy if all people have an equal opportunity to participate in the society, no one excluded. Violence, oppression, violation of human rights, discrimination, poverty and ignorance exclude people from participation. So, democratization requires liberation, not only from violence, but also from under-development and other forms of exclusion. Media such as radio can play an important role to liberate the people from ignorance, providing education, knowledge, information and a link with the world beyond their own direct environment, their own culture, their own traditions and their own political beliefs. Amongst these media radio is the most easily accessible. Radio can be an important vehicle in that process, provided that it not only brings information to the people, but also functions as a platform for discussion.

In my opening speech I emphasized that the media are a two way street: listening to the people is as important as sending messages to them. A democracy is a society in which the government is not afraid for the people, while at the same time the people do not have to be afraid for their government.

Southern Sudan is not yet a full democracy. There is tribal strife, blatant poverty and illiteracy. Many conflicts result in violence. But in the one year of its existence as an a distinct entity, important steps forward have been made in Southern Sudan. There is a general commitment to constitutional principles. The parliamentary assembly in Juba takes an independent stance and holds ministers accountable. There is freedom of speech. The media still have a limited scope but there is some expansion - witness radio Miraya - and their freedom is ensured.

The situation in the North is different. North Sudan has a high degree of development, good schools and universities, a well educated elite and a broad middle class. Like the South it has a constitution and a parliamentary system. Politicians and other opinion leaders can speak out. The judiciary demonstrates a certain degree of independence. But North Sudan is no full democracy either. Considerations of national security prevail and they limit the exercise of freedoms. Elections are far from transparent. Human rights reports speak about arbitrary arrests and detention, denial of rights and even torture of prisoners.

In North Sudan press freedom has improved a lot after the lifting of censorship last year. There are many media and they can be quite critical in their commentaries. However, there is not much independent news gathering. In particular about the war and the atrocities in Darfur information in the Sudanese press has been very limited. Until mid last year this was due to censorship. After the lifting of the censorship the information hardly improved, mainly because the media lack the necessary means of communication. They have been able to publish about the peace talks and to give information about the different political views, but not about the situation on the ground.

The United Nations has not yet been given a license to broadcast in North Sudan. It is part of the mandate given to us by the Security Council, like in other peace keeping missions, but we have not been able to start broadcasting. In the so-called Status of the Forces Agreement, which was reached between the UN and the Government, it has been mentioned explicitly that we would have the right to do so, but the exercise of this right in practice has met all kinds of difficulties.

One of the tasks mandated to us is to give information about the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and the South. Amongst the people of Sudan, in both the North and the South, knowledge about the peace agreement is still deficient. We also have the duty to picture unity of Sudan as “the attractive option”. For both objectives radio can be a good platform. Since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement radio could also help to present a true picture of the content of that agreement. It would be no luxury, because there are many interest groups in Sudan sketching a distorted picture about what has been agreed. As a result this agreement is meeting much more resistance than perhaps might be warranted in in the view of some, after a good reading. However, even though the Government and the African Union have said that it is highly necessary to counter the false stories told to the displaced people in the camps with true facts, UN radio has not been given the permission to do so.

It is not a matter of national sovereignty. As I said above, according to the agreement signed by the government itself, we have the right to start radio broadcasting. It is clearly a matter of distrust. In North Sudan the United Nations are being seen by many as not their own international organization, with a charter agreed and signed also by Sudan, acting as a buffer and guarantee against the ambitions of other countries, and with a capacity to neutralize the hidden agenda of those countries. On the contrary, many people in Sudan see the UN as an alien entity, as an instrument in the hands of the big powers, not to be trusted.

That this is a wrong perception we have to prove each and every day again. To prove that the UN can be trusted is a daily challenge. We can provide this proof in the way we exercise our peace keeping tasks, carry out our diplomacy, and behave ourselves on the ground. This challenge keeps us alert. We can also prove this with the help of UN radio: impartial, based on world wide agreed principles and values, with due respect for the culture and the traditions of the Sudanese people, giving them an opportunity to be heard.

Radio Miraya has started to broadcast in this spirit. I hope that policy makers in the North will listen and become convinced that the people in the North deserve the same opportunity to look in the mirror as those in the South.