German NGO hosts media forum in Juba

December 12, 2012 (JUBA) – Germany’s Ambassador to South Sudan, Anke Fiedler, opened a three day media forum in Juba on Monday, funded by Germany’s foreign office and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The forum will bring in experts from Africa and Europe to help develop common ground between media businesses and the open source movement in South Sudan.

Ambassador Fiedler told the South Sudanese and Sudanese journalists during conference opening, that the performance of journalists toward human rights and participation in civil society.

Fiedler said that “freedom of media, freedom of public opinions, and freedom of expression the right of the public to practice to participate into public affairs” was an important part of nurturing human rights in society.

The “Media Makers Forum 2012” was run Media in Cooperation and Transition (MICT), a German non-governmental organization specializing in media capacity building in crisis regions with a focus in the Middle East, Africa and central Asia. The MICT is funded by the German foreign office of Germany and created a project called Sudanvotes in 2009.

Sudanvotes was a networking of both Southerner and northerner Sudanese journalists who worked tirelessly to cover the 2010 elections, as well as provide news on economics, politics and society. However following the independence of South Sudan in 2011 the project’s name was change from Sudan Votes to the current The Niles.

Atem Yak Atem, South Sudan’s deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting officially launch the opening of the workshop on Monday night. Atem urged journalists to be reliable whenever disseminating information.

“We the government, the media, Judiciary, parliament and civil society acting together for the benefits of all, otherwise there would be no harmony if we don’t accept one another. All the branches of government have role to play in cases of conflicts to exercise tolerant”, said Atem.

The deputy minister added, South Sudan’s media law, which has been passed by the Council of Ministers – the upper house of the country’s parliament – waiting for approval from the South Sudan National Legislative Assembly.

(ST)