Journalists working at different radio stations in the Bahr el Ghazal region say they are not aware of any ban on reporting on European Union sanctions, after another station in the region was warned not to report on the issue.
A source in Aweil East told Radio Tamazuj that the Dinka-language Weer Bei FM radio station was ordered not to report on the European Union sanctions against Santino Deng Wol, a commander of the SPLA-Juba faction.
The station plans to reject this censorship in a letter of protest “informing the authorities of our responsibility to the truth.”
Interviews with journalists at other radio stations suggest that the censorship on the issue is localized to Northern Bahr al Ghazal, the state from which the censured general hails.
Santino Manut, the head of the English news section at the Warrap State radio station in Kwajok, said that his station broadcasts anything to do with ongoing peace talks in Addis Ababa.
“We broadcast everything to do with the peace talks, we don’t have anything like that unless it is an underground issue and we have not been told anything about it,” he told Radio Tamazuj.
“I am in charge of the English section in Warrap radio and I don’t think that message reached my desk… as far as our radio station is concerned, we don’t have any instructions given to us by the government,” Manut explained.
Angelo Ajoung, a reporter at Don Bosco FM, a Catholic radio station in Tonj in southern Warrap, said he had not heard about any censorship coming from the government on sanctions issues.
“I have never heard something of that nature,” he said. “We have never heard that one from any security,” Ajoung stated.
For his part, the press secretary for the governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Angelo Wol Mawien, told Radio Tamazuj that he is not aware of any censorship imposed on radio stations in the state not to report on European Union sanctions.
Another commander under sanctions, Marial Chanuong, hails from Lakes State. Radio Tamazuj is yet to contact radio stations in Rumbek on whether they covered the sanctions imposed on the general by the United State government.
File photo: Santino Deng Wol (left)
Related:
Aweil East radio station to reject censorship orders (17 Aug.)