By Oliver Modi
The 3rd May is the date set aside annually to celebrate World Press Freedom Day (WPFD). This date was established by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This year, deep in the African continent, in the fledgling state of Southern Sudan; journalists, media practitioners, government officials, and representatives from international organizations and civil society, gathered in a small hotel room in Juba to join the rest of the world in marking this important occasion. The theme this year of WPFD – 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers – held a lot of resonance for South Sudan, as it approached its declaration of independence in July.
There was also another reason why this year’s WPFD was particularly relevant to South Sudan, as the world’s newest nation struggling to find its feet regarding press freedom, marking as it did the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration. This declaration is a statement of press freedom principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991 at a UNESCO seminar, “Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press,” held in Windhoek, Namibia, in May 1991. It was later endorsed by the UNESCO General Conference and emphasizes the importance of an independent press for democracy, good governance and economic development. The contents of the declaration has been viewed as widely influential, as the first in a series of such declarations around the world and as a crucial affirmation of the international community’s commitment to freedom of the press.
Unfortunately, in the small hotel room in Juba, many felt that there was little to celebrate about. Addressing the pensively listening gathering, Mr Oliver Modi, Chairperson of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS), stated: “Although the Windhoek Declaration had all the good intentions for a free and independent media, we have nothing to celebrate about, nothing to boast of, and nothing to take pride in, when our journalists are working under such difficult conditions. Our journalists are arrested daily and media houses are raided daily; newspapers are confiscated; while we work under constant threats issued by security agents.”
According to Mr Modi, this year’s celebrations of WPFD in South Sudan aimed at reminding the new government to accept the media as a partner in development and to show commitment to press freedom.
“We are not waging any war against the government but, we are simply demanding what is rightfully ours. If we gag the media at its nascent stage, I am beginning to sense a lot of danger lying ahead of us. As we come up with the youngest country in the world it must uphold the principles of democracy,” he added.
Mr Modi further called on the South Sudan Legislative Assembly to speed up passing of the pending media bill to help the media regulate itself. “We prefer to do things the right way but, how do we do this business without any laws in place? What is the motive of delaying the media bill if it means well to all of us?” he asked.
The Head of the Committee on Information at the South Sudan Legislative Assembly, the Hon. Joy Kwaje, who was the chief guest at the function, spoke about her struggle to ensure that the media bill was passed. “All of us agreed that we would like to see the media bill passed,” she said. The Member of Parliament, however, told journalists not to give up with their work despite the delay of the bill. “That should not actually detour you from playing your role,” Kwaje said.
Mr Modi challenged the government to state clearly its position over continued harassment of journalists. “Here in Southern Sudan, UJOSS has serious concerns about the recent arrests and harassment of journalists. This year, journalists from the Citizen newspaper were beaten by security forces as they reported on demolition work at Juba University. The newspaper’s editor Nhial Bol was also arrested after reporting on the attack of his driver and journalist,” continued Modi.
The union boss further cited last year’s raid on both Bakhita Radio and Liberty FM stations which were later threatened with closure by Central Equatoria security agents because they hosted a senior political figure whose sentiments and utterances presented the SPLM Government in a bad light.
“The editor of the Juba Post, Michael Koma, was harassed by police after publishing an article which the government deemed was a threat to national security, because he interviewed a rebel leader, while the police confiscated that day’s edition of the Juba Post,” asserted Modi.
Norwegian People’s Aid’s (NPA) Country Director, Jan Ledang, underscored the role of the media in providing and disseminating information during Sudan’s historic elections and South Sudan’s referendum. “Silence kills democracy, the media is the tool that will ensure social, political and economic growth in this new country. We believe there is no functional society without the media,” Ledang stated.
In his speech, Richard Korbandi, Chairperson of the Southern Sudan Human Rights Commission urged the media to lead from the front in championing human rights in South Sudan. “This is your role and we will support you in every way possible as long as you achieve this course” Korbandi said.
Attending on behalf of the GoSS Minister of Information, Mr Biong, the Director General in the Ministry of Information, called on UJOSS and its partners not to relent in their fight to ensure those in authority understand the role of media in a democratic society. He called on UJOSS to keep on pressing and reminding the government of its obligations to its people and he cited the ‘The People’s Voice’ as a true living case of UJOSS’s efforts to help the government understand ordinary people’s concerns, though he was guarded in his choice of language and very selective in his use of words.
Mr Biong emphasized that while the government had obligations, so too do the media, particularly with regard to ensuring professionalism amongst its membership. He said that the government was not hell bent on harassing the media but, instead felt that the media had failed to live up to its expectations. “We are not against a free media but, we abhor lack of professionalism” he stated.
Mr George Garang, the Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, urged the media to embrace honest, responsible and accurate reporting and added, “what we report should be balanced and not incite and cause problems.”
As the event ended all thoughts turned to whether there will be anything to celebrate at the next WPFD. For now all eyes are on the Ministry of Legal Affairs to redraft the media bill which will later be tabled before the South Sudan Legislative Assembly for adoption or rejection. However it remains unclear whether, if passed, the media bill will protect journalists or will be translated as a punitive law aimed at gagging the media, and therefore, what the future holds for press freedom in South Sudan, as the fledgling nation and its government stretches its wings.
Will the new government go the way of so many regimes in Africa that strangle their media and so clip the wings of the democratic and economic development of their nations, like the oppressive North Sudan authorities, that South Sudan struggled for over 50 years to liberate itself from? Or, will the government learn from those mistakes and adhere to the principles of the Windhoek Declaration and so usher in a bright and prosperous democratic future for its citizens?
