Hard Times in Conflict Zones

Michael Hedges October 1, 2005

The typical is never the case in conflict zones where visiting a local warlord or facing a militia can be the first order of the days’ business.
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Humanitarian agencies and those seeking peace in times of conflict revere radio as the best and most effective means of achieving those ends.

This years’ front-page hot spots are Chechnya, the Sudan, Afghanistan and, still, Iraq.

No operational model is standard for setting up local radio stations in these regions. Equipment is still required, and a place to put it. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like the Swiss Fondation Hirondelle have years of experience bringing technical support and personnel into some of the most difficult environments and, yet, every project is different.

The United Nations (UN) acknowledges the benefits of radio broadcasting in conflict zones, particularly in Africa where other media has marginal impact. In their analysis radio broadcasting offers a means of presenting information, entertainment and contact cost effectively, compared with television or print media, in local languages, expressing local interests.

Internews is a US-based media development organization active in many of the worlds most contentious regions. With resident staff in over 30 countries, it organizes, advises and trains local radio and television broadcasters and publishers. While officially resistant to working in war zones, Internews recently set up 15 radio stations in Afghanistan, nine in rural areas.

In 2002 the BBC World Service Trust shipped two and a half tons of equipment to upgrade the facilities of state broadcaster Radio Afghanistan. Nearly US$30 million was pledged by donor governments and NGOs to support the countries media reconstruction.

Building these stations is one part of the project, sustaining them another. The stations in the network created by Internews are independently owned and not funded by any government, aside from initial grants awarded by international aid agencies, notably the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Financial support comes from advertising, though very little is similar to Western commercial radio advertising.

Public service announcements (PSAs), paid through international donors, are the mainstay of support for these stations. The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) – an Afghani organization set up to promote participation in recent elections – sponsored the PSAs on 13 local radio stations through a grant negotiated by Internews from the Asia Foundation and USAID.  The US$80,000 grant for election information PSAs will fund the stations for four to six months, according to John West, Internews Afghanistan country director.

A similar PSA sponsorship from US NGO Population Services International (PSI) for US$25,000 supported a safe water campaign in conjunction with the Afghan Health Ministries Diarrhea Prevention Week.

The Afghan radio stations also find local financial support from classified advertising and personal announcements. From lost-and-found items to wedding announcements, as much as 20% of a local stations operating costs can be covered by these 4 to 10 US cent ads.

Commercial advertising has appeared. After producing a commercial for a local motorcycle shop, Radio Azad Afghan in Kandahar gained other ad clients.

Radio is considered the dominant medium in Afghanistan, which has a high illiteracy rate. The BBC operates several local FM re-broadcast facilities and rents time on others.

The US Army distributed 200,000 transistor radios in Afghanistan in 2003 and the International Migration Office provided 30,000.

Of the fifteen stations in the Internews network, one – Radio Sharq in Jalalabad – is a fully commercial station and the rest are community stations. Radio Kallid in Kabul was the first launched in August 2003 and now reaches over 2 million people. Internews plans 20 additional stations in the network by years end.

In regional conflicts and civil wars existing radio stations are drawn, willingly or not, into the conflicts. During the civil war in Ivory Coast militias seized and continue to hold FM stations of the state broadcaster.

In Rwanda the government allowed the BBC World Service and the Thomson Foundation to fund and equip several radio stations then seized control turning them into propaganda devices.

Most NGOs and media development organizations prefer working in post-conflict zones rather than taking on projects that would endanger staff or play into the hands of warring factions. Post-conflict media development has a different purpose; monitoring media policy reforms and upgrading professional skills, particularly in journalism.

Where armies or militias are warring or preparing for war media is limited to the forces in control. Media voices independent of partisan conflict, as well as those taking sides, are forced to broadcast from outside the regions using high-power transmitters and satellites. Military forces also use radio broadcasts.

In addition to broadcasts by military forces and international broadcasters in Iraq, several once clandestine stations are now licensed and gaining audience. Baghdad’s talk station Radio Dijla was founded by Ahmad al-Rikabi, former London bureau chief of US funded Radio Free Iraq, financed with a grant from the Swedish Foundation for Development and Globalization.

In an interview with the US magazine Newsday, published in June 2004, al-Rikabi said “"We have the BBC on FM and they talk about the UN all day long. People talk to us about sewage outside their homes."

The Newsday article pointed out that al-Rikabi wants to “stay under the radar of local radicals” and keeps a submachine gun in his office.

When peace is not near, as in Chechnya, building new radio stations is out of the question. The Voice of Russia – the Russian Federation international broadcaster – launched Chechnya Free Radio on a high-power MW transmitter. Other international broadcasters, like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), have no access to frequencies or transmitter sites within the Russian Federation or Chechnya and must use the means at their disposal, mostly short-wave facilities at great distance. Other than Chechyan state radio and Russian state media, no other broadcasters are operating in the country. In 1999 Russian forces bombed and destroyed six radio transmitters in Chechnya.

Previously published in Radio World International, September 2005, in a slightly different form.

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New FM for RFI in Rwanda – October 8, 2005

Listeners in Rwanda’s capital Kigali can now hear Radio France International (RFI) 24 hours a day on 92.1 FM. Programs offered include RFI Afrique in French and news bulletins in English.

The BBC, VOA and Deustche Welle already broadcast to Kigali. The BBC’s rebroadcaster opened in 1998 and operates in Kagali on 93.6 FM.

The first private FM station, Radio 10, was licensed in 2004, ending the monopoly of state broadcaster Radio Rwanda. A total of six private radio licenses were awarded and include Contact Radio, Flash FM and Radio Izuba. One private TV station was licensed.

Former Radio Rwanda Technical Director of Radio Rwanda Joseph Serugendo was arrested for his role in the hate radio station Radio Milles Collines in September by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The new FM station is RFI’s 137th affiliate worldwide and the 82nd in Africa.