Big and Small, Broadcasters Determined in DR Congo

Michael Hedges December 1, 2004

Just four years ago Richard Pituwa built a transmitter from left behind electronics. This year One World Broadcasting Trust honored him and his station, Radio Canal Révélation.

“We feel very small in the face of this very big thing,” said Pituwa, 28 years old, when he accepted the Special Award in London in June for “providing a lifeline to listeners in the region.”

“This is a huge honor for all the young people running the station. No one believed that we would dare to function under the circumstances, but our team of volunteers never stopped working, even when our town was overrun with militia and ubiquitous gunfire.”

Radio Canal Révélation, despite its name not a religious station, operates in Bunia, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The daily budget is less than 10 euros, almost all paid by small donations in return for announcements and dedications.  When electricity is cut, as it often is, use of a generator costs about one euro more, for each hour. The station pours out local information and music programs in French and local languages for young people in the region of about 200,000.

Pituwa and his radio volunteers fled the fighting in May 2003 when militiamen entered the town. After days of violence and looting, the station was unscathed.

"I heard one commander telling his fighters to not even think of looting our station because this is a radio for the poor youth, “ said Pituwa.

Other Congolese broadcasters have not been spared.

Militiamen entered community station Sauti ya Mkaaji (Voice of the Farmer) in June, threatened the staff and attacked station director Modeste Shabani, Congolese National Police detained Shabani in May and the station had been warned from reporting human rights abuses. A DRC army colonel was suspended for the attack on the station director.

In early August national police entered the evangelical station Radio Hosanna, arrested the staff and confiscated equipment. The station had broadcast a sermon critical of the government. Subsequently, the stations broadcasting license has been revoked.

Modeste Mutinga, president of the Congolese Haute Autorité des Medias (High Authority of Media - HAM), described the media situation as “very alarming.” The government called for sanctions on broadcasting “messages that may poison the situation.” 

Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC), the state broadcaster, has been unable to maintain coverage in the entire country or even control over its regional stations. Mutinga faults under-funding because of poor license fee collections. A 10 kw shortwave transmitter was delivered in August to a regional RTNC station in Sud-Kiva.   

It was RTNC station Radio Candip that notoriously broadcast calls for the killing of Tutsis tribesmen. Since that episode considerable attention has been directed at using radio, the most widely accessible media in the region, to promote peace and dialogue rather than hate. The United Nations (UN) and several international broadcasters have launched stations and networks to bring calm to the war-torn country.

In a joint venture with the UN Peace Observer in the DRC Fondation Hirondelle  organized and now manages Radio Okapi, with the explicit mission to promote dialogue and peace-building. By far the largest, most complex project undertaken by Hirondelle, according to board member Felix Bollmann, Radio Okapi attempts to reach the 45 million inhabitants of DR Congo with programs in a mix of French and the four most widely spoken Congolese languages.

A national program is produced in Kinshasa and distributed by satellite to regional stations, which also produce local content. Three daily news magazines are produced in each of the five languages.

One of several innovations are mobile listening posts in remote areas having no access to FM or shortwave.

Radio Okapi recently hired a specialist to expand the network through existing rural stations.

Fondation Hirondelle, based in Switzerland, has long experience with radio broadcasting in the conflict zones of Africa. In Liberia it set up and operated Star Radio from 1997 until shut down by former President Charles Taylor. In November 2003, with Taylor ousted, Star Radio returned to the airwaves. Fondation Hirondelle and UN Development Program (UNDP) launched Radio Ndeke Luka in the Central African Republic.

Just prior to the launch of Radio Opaki in January 2002, UN spokesperson David Wimhurst said in an interview with Swissinfo that the UN is a keen supporter of radio broadcasting in post-conflict zones because reliable information is essential to the peace keeping process.

"The need for information is parallel to the need for food, shelter, water, health care and so. It can cut right through the rumors and the hostile propaganda that often swirl around and through conflict situations. The population generally doesn't know what to believe. So if we can get out precise information to everybody - one single clear story which is truthful – that,” said Wimhurst, “is a net benefit to the peace process."

Radio France International (RFI) has a long history in the DRC, one of the largest French-speaking countries. Broadcasting from FM stations in six cities, RFIs programs are regularly “shared” by other stations equipped with World Space receivers. The most recent, launched in July, is an FM station in Matadi. RFIs international training service, through the highly regarded Khuluma Project in South Africa, has become a major factor in increasing media professionalism.

Training broadcasters in the fine art of election coverage was emphasized in a March conference sponsored by the African Association of Community Radio. Modeste Mutinga opened the meetings saying that Congolese community radio has an “immense and exciting” role to play in modernizing civic responsibility. 

Raga FM, a popular commercial network, operates in several Congolese cities. The network re-broadcasts several BBC and Voice of America (VOA) programs.

Previously published in Radio World International, November 2004, in a slightly different form.