AudiencScapes

by Dinfin Mulupi

As southern Sudan gets closer to a January 2011 referendum on its independence, tension in the region has been rising with fears of a breakout of war. A radio station broadcasting from Nairobi, Kenya, is transmitting a message of peace and trying to educate the public about why the country should not slip back into the violence of previous decades.

The January vote will determine whether the oil-rich South should become independent or remain part of Sudan. The vote is one element of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) reached in 2005. The peace agreement marked the end of years of civil war between rebels in the South and Sudan’s central government.

Fostering Open Dialogue as Citizens Take Sides

The Sudan Radio Service (SRS) is an independent media outlet dedicated to peace and development in Sudan. In recent months, SRS has been providing listeners with civic education about the coming referendum through a program called Lets Talk Peace.

“The situation in Sudan right now is very volatile,” said Rehema Siama, the producer and presenter of Lets Talk Peace. “Through our interactions with the public, we have received information of some blocks of people vowing to go back to war if the referendum outcome does not favor their position.”

Many international observers and analysts have issued public warnings about the fragile state of the nation. Concerns have been raised about the possibility of a referendum delay, leading the South to secede on its own, as well as how the government would react if the South votes to split.

“Our aim is to promote peace and development. We do not take sides on which way Sudan should go. We are also very careful about information that may be inciteful such as threats of going back to war,” said Siama.

Lets Talk Peace invites experts in different areas on the program to give their views. Legal experts, human rights activists and political analysts participate in discussions in support of or against dividing Sudan. It also tackles more practical issues, like who is eligible for voting, and how and when to register. Aired weekly in English, the program is translated simultaneously into Arabic and eight Sudanese languages -- simple Arabic (a dialect), Dinka, Zande, Moru, Nuer, Bari, Shilluk, and Toposa.

The program was also aired in the run up to the April general election, which turned out to be peaceful. For these broadcasts, the program focused on educating the public about how to vote, the attributes of a good leader, the characteristics of good governance and why good leadership is important for the development of the country.

The original mission of the SRS was to transmit unbiased and accurate information about the peace process to the Sudanese public. It made its first broadcast on July 30, 2003. The radio station was established by the Education Development Center, an international NGO, with support from the United States Agency for International Development. The Let’s Talk Peace program is funded by the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute. 

Due to the unstable political conditions in Sudan before the 2005 peace agreement, the SRS was set up in Nairobi and would transmit via shortwave pre-recorded programs to a U.K.-based organization which would then transmit to Sudan (This was because Kenya does not authorize live transmission by foreign media outside the country.)

Following relative peace in Sudan since the signing of the peace agreement, the SRS dispatched stringers across Sudan and opened a bureau in Juba and Khartoum to oversee the production of news stories relevant to the Sudanese listeners. The station is now considering the possibility of moving major operations in Juba; however, this will depend on the outcome of the January referendum.

Building Trust with Its Audience

Lucy Poni Modi a former refugee and one of the current copy editors at SRS, explains that when it started, the radio station was the only source of information for the Sudanese public during the war.

“Most of the population in Sudan and mostly those in South Sudan, which is hugely underdeveloped, are illiterate. Through our broadcasts in local languages, they were able to understand the content of the CPA, their rights and what it meant for the future of Sudan,” she said.

The SRS broadcasts in a different local language every day of the week (they call it “language of the day”, thus listeners tune in on the day their local language is used for broadcast), with English and Arabic used for news broadcasting everyday .

According to Steve Omiri, a senior producer, one of the challenges the station faced when it began broadcasting was public doubt.

“Initially, politicians and the ruling class considered SRS a threat, since we were informing the public and this affected their decision making. However, since the signing of the CPA we have been accepted and are considered to be educating people on the issues surrounding the CPA and why they should coexist peacefully with other communities,” said Omiri.

In addition to programs about peace, the SRS also airs programs that promote economic development in the country. One example is Our Land Our Wealth, which educates listeners on better farming methods, how to handle livestock disease and fishing. This is geared toward building a sustainable economy in post war Sudan.

Regardless of what happens with the referendum, the staff insists the station will stand by its mission to equip its listeners with the knowledge and tools to participate more fully in peacemaking, reconciliation and development in Sudan.

Dinfin Mulupi is a business journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently the East Africa corresp for an online business paper based in Cape Town in South Africa.

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