Radio Gatashya in Rwanda

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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From: MOORE@acc.mcrest.edu (Don Moore)
Date sent:      Mon, 19 Sep 1994 21:51:26 -0400
Send reply to:  devmedia@uoguelph.ca
From:           Bruce Girard 
To:             Multiple recipients of list 
Subject:        New radio in Rwanda

An item from the Media in Development list. By the sound of it this must be on FM, but perhaps interesting nonetheless.

Don Moore
MOORE@ACC.MCREST.EDU