VZCZCXRO9340
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0286 0590429
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 280429Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0053
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000286 
 
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 SU
SUBJECT: MEDIA DEVELOMENTS 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 South 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 28.  End Summary. 
 
¶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.  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 though, 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 the 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