ICC Note:
A state-sponsored shuttering of Christian Radio station, Bakhita FM, in Juba, South Sudan, has continued unabated for four weeks. Despite an alleged promise given by President Salva Kiir himself, the keys to the radio station’s headquarters have not been returned to staff. South Sudan continues to suffer ethnically motivated violence as President Kiir and former Vice-president Riek Machar vie for power over the world’s youngest country.
09/07/2014 South Sudan (Radio Tamazuj) – The government shutdown of a Christian radio station in the South Sudanese national capital continued for a fourth Sunday today.
A radio listener in Juba confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the Christian radio broadcasting service was still not to be heard on its usual frequency on Sunday.
This comes in spite of a reported guarantee given by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir to the church leadership that the station would reopen before Sunday.
Jose Vieira, who heads a Catholic mission society that works in South Sudan and who served for several years as chief editor of the Catholic Radio Network, stated yesterday that Kiir told Archbishop Paulino Lukudo on Thursday that keys to the station would be given back before Sunday.
Vieira noted that the keys were not given back.
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