Controlling the media: No dam visit in Sudan
By Jennie Matthew on 06-08-2008, 14:23 GMT - Reporting Africa - Permalink
Foreign journalists need government permits to travel anywhere interesting in Sudan apart from Juba, the capital of the non-Arab south. It's the most effective way (setting aside the logistics of actually going) of limiting coverage.
AFP has made five out-of-Khartoum travel requests in five months. One disappeared into oblivion. Two were granted (Darfur, Abyei) and two are pending. My sixth was snubbed within minutes.Merowe Dam, a short flight or long drive north of Khartoum, will roughly double Sudan's power-generating capacity when finished. But despite its massive importance, it's steeped in controversy.
In a nut shell:
- tens of thousands of villagers will be flooded out of their homes
- villagers want to stay on fertile land by the existing waters and accuse the government of pushing them into barren hinterland. (This picture, left, taken by a colleague in 2007 shows some of the land they want to stay on.)
The authorities have met protests with deadly fire and arrests. A UN rapporteur asked Sudan to suspend work on Merowe and another dam to allow rights monitors to assess how the displaced are affected and resettled. No deal.
More reasons for controversy/secrecy:
- Swiss experts say key environmental issues were not addressed properly
- the dam threatens some archaeological riches (see pix, right and below, from 2006)
- Chinese engineers are building the dam
- China, villified in the West for investing in Sudan where US sanctions kept others at bay, steers well clear of publicity
Last week, villagers again accused the dam of deliberately flooding their land, leaving 200 families homeless.
No one at the dam would comment. Except to refuse permission to journalists to visit. And with the controls in place, this is very effective.
As always, the man from external information couldn't have been nicer.
- Official: "Merowe dam? Ok. We'll write a letter to the dam authorities asking if they can take you up there."
- Me: "Really? You don't need anything from me? No passport? No photographs?"
- Official: "No, no. Don't worry."
An hour later he apologised but the dam was afraid it wasn't a time for journalists to visit. The quickest 'no' I've ever had in Sudan.
Hence no visit and no new pictures to offer, although click on this link if you want the official version.
And to think five months ago, there was a government-sponsored trip to the dam with handpicked journalists, pundits and assorted motley crew flown in for an all-expenses-paid European-Sudanese conference.
It was that priceless moment reporters hunt for, the one that