Two radio stations were destroyed in Bor, the capital of Jonglei State, during the conflict that started there with the defection of an army division in December.
Each party in South Sudan has accused the other of committing atrocities and looting in Bor, which changed hands several times until its recent recapture by the Ugandan army and SPLA.
Radio Jonglei Station Manager Malek Gutnyin said his radio was established to broadcast for peace in different languages since it was church radio. He said that the radio station was now completely looted such that there is not even a single piece of equipment yet.
“The items we had in the station were six computers, amplifier, chairs, transmitter 1500W, recorders and a Voice of America transmitter,” said Malek, referring to equipment used by the station for retransmission of the VOA South Sudan in Focus program.
“For peace to came back to normal, we need any assistance from everybody to contribute and we too can join hands to bring back the radio to normal,” he said. “Our purpose was to give accurate information to the public, dialogue on peace and even educational programs.”
Radio Jonglei was only non-governmental radio operating within the state, and until last year the only radio station at all, until the construction of a state-run radio station by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Hon. Baba Medan, the state information minister, told Radio Tamazuj that the government-controlled Jonglei Public Radio lost millions worth of equipment, including two transmitters in Bor.
“We had only one radio that was bought at 34 million dollars by UNDP,” he said. The minister explained that the station had planned to distribute 11 transmitters to the different counties but this is now impossible.
“We wanted to make a station in each county. Those stations were still in their containers. So they burned some and just broke the others, inside the containers. So that was a big damage,” he said, noting though that engineers might salvage some of them.
The information minister called on UN agencies to bring back Jonglei Public Radio to work in order to promote peace across the state.
Photo: A man displaced by violence at the Kator Cathedral in Juba, December 2013 (AFP/Phil Moore)