VZCZCXRO8180
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0284 0580842
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 270842Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0051
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000284 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, AF SE WILLIAMSON 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: MEDIA DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: CG Christopher Datta met with Minister of 
Information and Broadcasting Gabriel Chang on the morning of 
February 25 to discuss the developing media in South Sudan. 
Starting with almost nothing, Chang outlined an ambitious agenda for 
the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) to reach out to Southern 
audiences that included medium wave and FM radio stations and the 
inauguration of a new television channel on March 28th. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Minister Chang briefed CG Datta on an impressive plan to 
expand radio and TV services to the people of the Southern Sudan.  A 
medium wave GoSS station now covers the entire South, and FM 
licenses are being granted to local start-up ventures.  The problem 
faced by the ministry is how to develop programming for these 
stations with little in the way of staff and financial support.  The 
ministry is seeking to create, for example, a new news organization 
that can report from all parts of the South, as well as from 
neighboring capitals in Kampala, Addis and Nairobi. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Minister indicated he is not getting the level of 
cooperation from leaders in the GoSS that he would like to see in 
using the media to reach the people of the South with GoSS messages. 
 They are slow, he said, to understand the power of radio in 
particular to reach people outside of Juba, which is badly needed. 
Especially in remote rural areas, little is understood of what the 
GoSS is doing and radio, through its power to reach this largely 
illiterate population, can help to inform and unite the South. 
 
¶4. (SBU) CG Datta asked how quickly the licensing of private FM 
stations was progressing, commenting on reports that the northern 
government was opposed to such licensing on the grounds that the 
GoSS did not have the authority to issue FM licenses.  The Minister 
answered that the central government was indeed opposed to it, but 
he maintained that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) did 
provide the authority and the GoSS was proceeding anyway.  FM 
stations, he said, were of critical importance because, although 
they had only a short range, the local nature of the stations 
allowed them to broadcast in local languages with news and 
entertainment of local interest.  In many areas, English and Arabic, 
the languages used on the medium wave station, were not understood 
in many rural areas and local FM stations filled the information 
gap.  No matter what the government in Khartoum thought, they would 
continue to license new stations for this reason. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Last, the Minister informed the CG that the GoSS would be 
inaugurating a new television channel on March 28.  It would begin 
with six hours of daily programming, and seek to expand later.  It 
would be available by broadcast in Juba, but also be available 
across the region to those with satellite dishes. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: As with almost all sectors of Southern Sudan, the 
Ministry of Information is starting with almost nothing and little 
expertise.  They are learning as they go, but Minister Chang has an 
impressive agenda and seems to understand the powerful role that the 
media can play in communicating to and uniting Southern Sudan. 
 
 
FERNANDEZ