Radio's Peacekeeping Potential

by Gordon Adam

Interest in the international media in humanitarian crises focuses usually on the impact made in the West, amongst the donor nations and on the decision-makers who have the power to intervene.

It is comparatively rare for the role of the media in the victim state to merit attention. However, in the cases of Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda, it is clear that local factional radio played a significant role in inflaming passions, and arguably intensifying the subsequent conflict. In Rwanda, the scaremongering of the former government-run Radio Milles Collines undoubtedly increased the scale of the refugee problem in Zaãre and other neighbouring countries.

So there is now some discussion about how these inflammatory broadcasts can be countered -- or preferrably anticipated -- by pro-active internationally sponsored broadcasts which are conciliatory and measured in tone. Radio and television have proved themselves successful educators. But such an approach is only likely to succeed if it is planned with care.

Radio is a powerful medium, particularly in developing countries. It was an abortive attempt to silence General Aidid's radio station in Somalia in 1993 (TK) which led to the killing of the Pakistani peacekeeping troops, and the undermining of the UN's role in the country.

But the UN had its own radio station which made little impact. By contrast, Radio UNTAC (the United National Transitional Authority in Cambodia) is credited with helping to deliver a 95 percent turnout at Cambodia's first general election for a generation, in spite of Khmer Rouge pressure to boycott the polls. Important lessons can be learned these two radio operations.

In conflict situations, such as Mozambique or Angola, where international shortwave broadcasts were used, radio's effectiveness is often enhanced. This is not often appreciated by westerners, used to the overwhelming influence of television in North America and Europe.

There is already evidence of radio's ability to convey ideas and messages in basic education. The media was seen as a cornerstone of the UNESCO/UNICEF 'Education for All' initiative taken at the Jomtien conference in 1990.

UNICEF has used the mass media effectively in a number of developing countries for "social mobilization" in health and other basic education. Again, this can be particularly effective in areas of conflict or former conflict where health and educational infrastructures have broken down, and where radio is one of the few sources of education as well as information.

In Afghanistan, there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence from immunisation teams, deminers, and other aid workers that the BBC basic education broadcasts have helped modify attitudes towards common life threatening conditions.

( See CROSSLINES Global Report October 1993 Vol. 1 Nr 5 for Suzy Price's article on the role of the BBC in Kabul ).

Current research also shows that the border themes such as conflict resolution and the role of educated women featured in BBC educational dramas for Afghanistan are being clearly understood.

The aural learning traditional of many developing countries means listeners have a far greater capacity than most western listeners to listen to the radio and remember details of key messages. In late 1994, for example, the BBC Somali Service in conjunction with the International Committee of the Red Cross produced what is thought to be the first play available to Somalis in nearly a decade.

The play, Akara, by Somali playwright Said Saleh, actors incorporates a message of peace in a war-torn country and was recorded in Nairobi using Somali actors from refugee camps in northern Kenya. It is tempting to conclude, therefore, that radio is a cost-effective medium whose potential in alleviating humanitarian crises, or even pre-empting them, could be put to much greater use.

The United States adopted this approach in Haiti by distributing inexpensive FM and Medium wave radio sets to the general population for information purposes prior to and during the September 1994 arrival of US troops on the island. But that still leaves a number of issues to be tackled:

  • Ensuring clear audibility and adequate access to radios

  • The broadcasting organization has to be trusted

  • Producing a range of high quality programmes

  • Ensuring the message broadcast is received as intended

  • Training local broadcasters and decision-makers

    • One element in the success of Radio UNTAC and the failure of the UN Radio in Somalia is that the UN was welcomed as the only force likely to bring peace in Cambodia, whereas its presence in Somalia was widely resented.

    This clearly had an impact on the credibility of its broadcasts. In Afghanistan, the BBC's Pashto and Persian language Service educational programmes have been welcomed by listeners because they are broadcast by the BBC, the trusted source of news.

    The need for training local staff in techniques of both educational and advocacy broadcasting must be a priority for sustaining the impact of the programming. In this respect, Radio UNTAC has been a spectacular failure. The details are instructive.

    Since the UN pullout in late 1993, including all radio programme managers, there has been no money to pay for the transmitter generation costs, no money to pay the prohibitively expensive studio building rent.

    ( There has been ) no money for the state of the art Japanese recording equipment spares, and no telecommunications link to deliver the signal to the remote transmitters, at least one of which has been ransacked by the Khmer Rouge as there is inadequate security to protect them.

    Furthermore, many of the radio receivers distributed to villagers have broken -- they were cheap. In the words of one UN communications expert, Radio UNTAC "was a non-sustainable operation from the day it was established."

    Radio UNTAC arguably performed its short-term role effectively, but has left Cambodia, which desperately needs radio for education as well as information, with a white elephant and virtually no new trained broadcasters or managers conversant with techniques of educational and advocacy broadcasting.

    Gordon Adam, Deputy Editor of CROSSLINES, is Coordinator of the BBC Afghan Education Drama Project. He is also radio consultant to basic education projects in Cambodia and the Sahel and was Head of the BBC World Service's Pashto Language section for eight years until March 1994.


    Source: Gordon Adam, 'Crosslines', Volume 3 (1) March, 1995

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