www.reuters.comSouth Sudan authorities shut down popular radio station
Fri Nov 11, 2016 | 5:47am EST
By Denis Dumo | JUBA
JUBA - A popular South Sudanese radio station set up with U.S. backing
was shut down on Friday by security officials, a journalist said, the
latest media outlet to face pressure from the authorities.
Nichola Mandil, a senior journalist at Eye Radio in Juba, which many
listeners rely on for news, told Reuters that security officials
stopped broadcasts without giving a reason.
"Eye Radio has been officially shut down by the National Security
indefinitely," he said, adding that three security officers "shut down
the radio station, locked the three studios and took the keys with
them."
"They ordered all the journalists to leave the station immediately and
we are now in the process of going home," he said, adding that the
radio's chief executive was going to meet the director-general of
National Security for an explanation.
There was no immediate comment from government officials. One senior
official contacted said he was not aware of the incident.
Although radio broadcasts had stopped, the website
www.eyeradio.orgshowed stories posted on Nov. 11.
Journalists in South Sudan have often complained of harassment by the
authorities during the civil conflict that erupted in December 2013
between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing his
former deputy Riek Machar.
A peace deal signed in 2015 failed to stick and fighting in Juba
flared up in July, prompting Machar to flee after returning to the
capital just a few weeks earlier.
In September, the authorities shut the Nation Mirror newspaper,
without giving a reason although it followed coverage of a report by a
U.S.-based group alleging misuse of state funds by the nation's
leaders. It remains closed.
Another newspaper, the Juba Monitor, has also been closed temporarily
on several occasions.
Eye Radio, which usually operates 24/7 and is expanding its reach
across the country, delivers broadcasts in English, Arabic and other
local languages.
It first broadcast in 2003, before South Sudan's independence in 2011
from Sudan, as a project backed with funds from the U.S. Agency for
International Development. It now calls itself a "self-sustaining
independent radio station."
(Writing by Edmund Blair)
Topic: Looks like Eye Radio got the knock...or did it??? (Read 2116 times)