A national civil society organization has urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development IGAD which is facilitating the South Sudan High Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF) to pressure Ethiopian authorities to allow South Sudanese media to directly cover the forum.

In a press statement on media coverage of the 2^nd IGAD-led HLRF Phases in February, the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said the media’s role was “remarkable and informative”.

“Citizens’ transformation and engagement is determinated by their participation which is fully depending on how accurate information they gained from primary sources. South Sudanese will freely take the responsibility of ownership of the HLRF outcomes, if they are well informed with accurate primary information on HLRF deliberations,” read the statement.”

CEPO’s executive director Edmund Yakani, further said, “Allowing information freely flow to the public is a great element of transforming and keeping citizens engage. IGAD jointly with JMEC should lobby Ethiopia authorities to allow South Sudanese media to directly cover the HLRF. It is important for the purpose of building citizens trust and confidence on the outcomes of HLRF.”

“Keeping the citizens and the public in the dark enables political leaders and other parties to manipulate information on HLRF progress,” Yakani stressed.