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Sudanese protesters take message to air waves | News by Country | Reuters
Sudanese protesters take message to air waves
Sat Apr 2, 2011 6:37pm GMT
* Protests planned online failed to take on mass appeal
* Radio popular in rural areas
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, April 2 (Reuters) - Sudanese protesters took to the airwaves on Saturday after failing via the Internet to mobilise anti-government marches like those in neighbouring Egypt and Libya.
A group calling itself the Sudanese Youth Forum said it would begin shortwave radio broadcasts every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) for 30 minutes to reach the mostly rural population of Africa's largest country.
"Youth of Sudan, you have to focus and take to the streets all over the country," the anonymous broadcaster said.
"President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said himself ... he took power through force and he will only leave by force."
Youth activists say their groups on social networking sites have been infiltrated by government agents, hindering their usefulness even in the capital Khartoum -- one of the few cities where the Internet is widely accessible.
The radio programme also discussed unemployment and corruption in Sudan which is suffering an economic crisis and will split this year after the South voted in a referendum this year to secede.
Bashir took power in a bloodless coup in 1989 alongside an Islamist movement. He is the only sitting head of state wanted by the International Criminal Court which accuses him of war crimes and genocide in the war-torn Darfur region.
His government, facing discontent over shortages in foreign exchange and soaring inflation, has been unnerved by uprisings over the Middle East. Losing the oil-rich south will be another blow.
It was unclear how wide an audience the programme reached but in mostly rural Sudan, radio is the most popular way of getting news.
Bashir has promised to step down in elections due in 2015 and create an anti-corruption commission. He has faced strong calls for reform from within his own ruling party.
Heavy-handed police, and a society fragmented and tired by decades of conflict, have ensured anti-government protests have remained small.
A witness in Fedassi village in Sudan's agricultural heartland of Gezira state told Reuters several hundred residents blocked the main road to Khartoum on Friday afternoon protesting at a government plan to confiscate their land.
"After that the police used tear gas to break up the demonstrators and reopen the road," said the witness, who declined to be named for fear of arrest. (Additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz)
Sudanese protesters take message to air waves
Sat Apr 2, 2011 6:37pm GMT
* Protests planned online failed to take on mass appeal
* Radio popular in rural areas
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, April 2 (Reuters) - Sudanese protesters took to the airwaves on Saturday after failing via the Internet to mobilise anti-government marches like those in neighbouring Egypt and Libya.
A group calling itself the Sudanese Youth Forum said it would begin shortwave radio broadcasts every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) for 30 minutes to reach the mostly rural population of Africa's largest country.
"Youth of Sudan, you have to focus and take to the streets all over the country," the anonymous broadcaster said.
"President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said himself ... he took power through force and he will only leave by force."
Youth activists say their groups on social networking sites have been infiltrated by government agents, hindering their usefulness even in the capital Khartoum -- one of the few cities where the Internet is widely accessible.
The radio programme also discussed unemployment and corruption in Sudan which is suffering an economic crisis and will split this year after the South voted in a referendum this year to secede.
Bashir took power in a bloodless coup in 1989 alongside an Islamist movement. He is the only sitting head of state wanted by the International Criminal Court which accuses him of war crimes and genocide in the war-torn Darfur region.
His government, facing discontent over shortages in foreign exchange and soaring inflation, has been unnerved by uprisings over the Middle East. Losing the oil-rich south will be another blow.
It was unclear how wide an audience the programme reached but in mostly rural Sudan, radio is the most popular way of getting news.
Bashir has promised to step down in elections due in 2015 and create an anti-corruption commission. He has faced strong calls for reform from within his own ruling party.
Heavy-handed police, and a society fragmented and tired by decades of conflict, have ensured anti-government protests have remained small.
A witness in Fedassi village in Sudan's agricultural heartland of Gezira state told Reuters several hundred residents blocked the main road to Khartoum on Friday afternoon protesting at a government plan to confiscate their land.
"After that the police used tear gas to break up the demonstrators and reopen the road," said the witness, who declined to be named for fear of arrest. (Additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz)
