Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 01:18:03 +0200
South Sudan: how hate radio was used to incite Bentiu massacres
- By Keith Somerville
Posted on
<http://africanarguments.org/2014/04/24/south-sudan-how-hate-radio-was-used-
to-incite-bentiu-massacres-by-keith-somerville/> April 25, 2014
The spectre of ethnically-motivated killings, and the use of ethnic rivalry
or hatred to mobilize and incite one community against another, hangs over
the conflict in South Sudan. Coming just weeks after the 20th anniversary of
the Rwandan genocide, which will forever be associated with the use of radio
to incite hatred and help direct genocidal killings, the UNMISS report that
a rebel commander in Bentiu used the local FM radio station to incite hatred
against Dinkas, Darfuris and other non-Nuer, sent a shiver down my spine.
In a country with an estimated 80 per cent illiteracy rate, South Sudanese
are particularly reliant on radio as a means of getting news and of
communicating information. It reaches those who cannot read or cannot
access or afford to buy newspapers. It can be listened to throughout the day
alone, or in groups and can have a mass effect if used to generate fear,
mobilize support or, worst of all, incite hatred of others.
The Radio Bentiu FM station is a key source of news for the population.
UNMISS said that the rebels had taken over the station and at times
"broadcast hate messages declaring that certain ethnic groups should not
stay in Bentiu and even calling on men from one community to commit vengeful
sexual violence against women from another community". The UN mission
roundly condemned the use of the radio to incite hatred and encourage
killings or rape, though it did note that some rebel SPLA commanders had
broadcast messages calling for unity and an end to 'tribalism'. While UN
radio stations and the Netherlands-funded Radio Tamazuj can be heard in
Unity state, the local FM station is the key local outlet and so has a wide
listenership in Bentiu.
Several hundred civilians were killed after the rebel occupation of the key
oil town and most of the dead are believed to be Dinkas, Darfuris and a
number of other Sudanese, deliberately targeted by sections of the rebel
force as 'enemies'. At times the rebels have claimed that members of the
Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and other groups from Sudan have
been fighting alongside the South Sudanese army. UNMISS in its statement on
the killings specifically referred to the targeting of Darfuris and to the
killing of at least 200 and the wounding of 400 non-Nuer civilians in a
mosque. There were even reports, the UN said, of Nuer being killed for
failing to show their support for the rebels. Among the targets for attacks
were the mosque, the hospital and a World Food Programme compound. The
UNMISS personnel in Bentiu managed to rescue hundreds of civilians and it
says it is now protecting 12,000 civilians at its base - part of an
estimated total of 60,000 being guarded throughout South Sudan.
The use of radio to call on rebels and Nuer, in particular, to attack Dinkas
and other groups does bring chilling echoes of Rwanda and of the use of
local radio stations - especially vernacular ones in Kenya and the DRC - to
incite fear, hatred or violence against particular groups. These include the
Banyamulenge in eastern DRC or Kalenjin against Kikuyu and vice versa during
the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007-8 (a Kenyan radio editor and
presenter, Joshua arap Sang, is currently in trial at the ICC for using
radio as part of the incitement of hatred and violence). The spokesperson
for UNMISS, Joseph Contreras, said in an interview on UN Radio in South
Sudan that the use of radio to fan the flames of hatred was to be deplored
and made a direct reference to the role of hate radio in Rwanda.
But South Sudan is not Rwanda and the ethnic/linguistic picture is more
diverse and blurred. Political and ethnic allegiances shift according to
time and expediency. There is also a very different media environment with
various church, UN or foreign-sponsored radio stations broadcasting - in
addition to the national radio based in Juba and smaller government FM
stations in the main towns of each state. The local FM stations are the
ones most likely to be seized by government or rebel forcers as they capture
towns - UNMISS says it is already aware that some stations have been
broadcasting hate speech. Mr Contreras called on all sides "to prevent the
airing of such messages". He added, though, that it was impossible to say
what effect the messages in Bentiu had had on the course of the violence
there after the rebel take over.
The media in South Sudan is more varied than in Rwanda in 1994 - when the
only stations broadcasting in Kinyarwanda were the Hutu
government-controlled Radio Rwanda, the Hutu Power-owned Radio Television
Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM) and the Rwandan Patriotic Front's Radio
Muhabura. These were supplemented by international broadcasters like the
BBC, Radio France International and Voice of America, but none of these
transmitted in the local language. In South Sudan, in addition to the
national radio service in Juba and state stations in nine provincial
capitals, there are over 30 FM or AM stations broadcasting locally,
including the UN's Radio Miraya, Radio Tamazuj, the Catholic Bakhita FM, and
the USAID-funded Sudan Radio Service. Most broadcast in English and basic
Arabic, though the local stations also broadcast in a number of vernaculars,
such as Zande, Madi, Muru, Bari and Kuhu.
Reporters without Borders (RWB) ranks South Sudan as 111th out of 179
countries in terms of press freedom, compared with 170 for Sudan. But the
role of independent journalists, newspapers and radio stations in reporting
corruption has not been popular with President Salva Kiir's government and
journalists have suffered periodic harassment. One leading commentator and
thorn in the side of the government, Diing Chan Awuol, was shot and killed
outside his home in Juba in December 2012. Awuol wrote columns for the Sudan
Tribune and Gurtong websites and the newspaper 'Destiny' under the pen-name
of Isaias Abraham. There have also been arrests of leading journalists,
such as Ngor Aguot Garang, the editor of Destiny, and his deputy editor in
November 2011 for a critical piece on Salva Kiir's daughter.
This harassment has not yet made South Sudan's media into a clone of the
state-controlled and intimidated media of the north, but Reporters without
Borders said that a South Sudanese media expert had told them that "The
authorities in Juba were brought up in the Khartoum school and now they are
getting ready to put what they learned about repression into practice.Listen
to the information minister. He tells us: 'Watch what you write. Be
patriotic.Unlike what happens in the North, the repression is not concerted,
but high-handed actions, harassment, impunity and brutality are nonetheless
the rule."
Harassment has increased since the start of the conflict between forces
loyal to the Salva Kiir government and those backing Riek Machar. In recent
weeks, the South Sudanese Information Minister, Michael Makuei, has
<http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/07/soldiers-pay-dispute-shatters
-peace-juba> warned reporters in Juba not to interview opposition leaders or
spokespeople or face arrest or expulsion from the country. Makuei said
broadcast interviews with rebels are considered "hostile propaganda" and "in
conflict with the law." The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the
minister's outburst followed a recent interview conducted by the Juba-based
and independent <http://eyeradio.org/> Eye Radio with a rebel leader at the
deadlocked peace negotiations taking place in Addis Ababa. Makuei said this
sort of reporting was "disseminating poison". The minister ordered
journalists in South Sudan to convey "a neutral position that does not
agitate against the government."
There have been a number of cases of journalists being interrogated or
arrested since the start of the conflict. On occasions the security services
have seized newspapers such as the Juba Monitor and put pressure on Eye
Radio to force the resignation of the editor, Beatrice Murail, who left Juba
and returned to France as a result. There have also been reports from the
CPJ and the Inter Press Service that Nuer journalists are being viewed as
potential enemies and supporters of Machar in government-controlled areas
and similarly, as the conflict has ratcheted up ethnic tensions, journalists
of Dinka origin are under threat in areas controlled by the rebels.
The well-known South Sudanese journalist Bonifacio Taban, who has himself
been put under pressure by the government, told the CPJ in March that this
situation is making it hard for journalists to report and dangerous, in
particular, for those of Nuer origin to cover the story from the government
side. He said the tough stance of the government is making it more and more
difficult for the local press to stay impartial. "The news in South Sudan is
not balanced, it has become one-sided, the government side," Taban told the
CPJ.
In these circumstances, it is not surprising that when the rebels seize a
town like Bentiu they quickly make sure they control the output of the local
media, especially radio. But as the conflict continues and killings
escalate, along with the proliferation of both accurate or
exaggerated/invented stories of atrocities, the chances of impartiality
slipping into propaganda and then down the slope into hate broadcasting is
very real.
Keith Somerville is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of
Commonwealth Studies at the University of London; teaches at the Centre for
Journalism, University of Kent; and edits the Africa - News and Analysis
website (wwww.africajournalismtheworld.com). His book Radio Propaganda and
the Broadcasting of Hatred was published in 2012.
<http://africanarguments.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Bentiu.jpg> Bentiu
The aftermath of violence in Bentiu, South Sudan.
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)