Government ban on church radio in S. Sudan capital enters fourth week
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.
No legal notice has been given to explain the closure of Bakhita FM, the second most popular radio station in South Sudan’s capital Juba, according to data from last year.
Instead, authorities held closed-door meetings with church officials at the National Security Service premises where they made clear their intention to impose restrictions on the church radio before allowing it to reopen as well as lashed out at the church itself, according to Catholic Church sources.
The National Security Service, which is responsible for having seized the key, presented no warrant of search and seizure when it took the key.
Bakhita FM, run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba, is the third Christian radio threatened by South Sudanese officials since July. It is one of more than 15 Catholic and Evangelical radio stations built in South Sudan during the inter-war period of 2005-2013.
Related:
Juba Catholics want church radio back on air (31 Aug.)
Timeline: Violence against churches in South Sudan (29 Aug.)