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RWANDA: RSF HERALDS OPENING OF HUMANITARIAN RADIO GATASHYA

Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) has set up a new radio station in
Rwanda as a service to refugees, reports the September 1994 issue
of RSF's "La Lettre". The station, Radio Gatashya, was instituted
as a direct response to the violent propaganda emitted by Radio
des Milles Collines which provoked the killing spree that has
evolved into genocide. Radio Gatashya went on air on 5 August
1994 in Goma, after overcoming a number of political and
technical problems, such as a lack of electricity or access to
the airwaves.

Billed as "humanitarian radio," Radio Gatashya has a range that
extends throughout the refugee camps in Goma and Bukavu where it
is badly needed. It acts as an emergency service, for example, by
telling refugees not to drink the water. RSF's Chantal de
Casabianca writes, "All that remains is to gain the confidence of
the refugees. On a continent like Africa where radio is usually
laden with propaganda, that is not an easy task."

Radio Gatashya is sanctioned by the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (HCR), which has given over the basement
of its offices for the use of the station. The HCR has received
requests from other humanitarian organizations to encourage the
instalment of similar radio stations elsewhere because radio is
the most efficacious medium by which to transmit information in
the area.
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The above is from:

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