Rwandan information minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, has threatened to reimpose the ban on Kinyarwanda-language broadcasts by BBC if the British radio did not change its editorial line. Broadcasts only resumed on June 23 after a two-month interruption.
Rwandan pro-government daily the New Times reported in an article on June 26 that the minister had said BBC was guilty of “bad faith” and that if the station did not change the way it dealt with the 1994 genocide, broadcasts in Kinyarwanda would be “definitively and unconditionally” suspended.
“Broadcasts in Kinyarwanda have barely resumed and new banning threats have already been made against BBC. We urge Louise Mushikiwabo and the Rwandan government to respect plurality of opinions and handling of news by foreign media and in particular BBC. These repeated threats are intolerable and should stop immediately," Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said.
The Rwandan government and BBC had over the past two months negotiated a resumption in broadcasts. The information ministry said, “The government has lifted the ban on BBC because the radio agreed to make changes in its editorial line”. The New Times claims that BBC agreed to the conditions imposed by Kigali and said that the head of the BBC’s Africa service, Jerry Timmins, had said in a letter to the Rwandan authorities that the corporation would be “very attentive” to the content of programmes.
The information ministry’s volte-face was due to recent statements by BBC executives refusing to modify its editorial position, the New Times reported.
Before the ministry’s new threats were made, BBC told RSF, “We are pleased that listeners to BBC’s broadcasts in the Kinyarwanda language are now able to hear our programming on FM in Kigali either via our relays or through our FM broadcast partner after a break of nearly two months. We will continue to exercice due impartiality and sensitivity in covering the country’s reconciliation and unity process".
BBC broadcasts to Rwanda resumed on June 23 following a decision made at a cabinet meeting on June 19 chaired by the head of state, Paul Kagame. Kigali “temporarily suspended” broadcasts on April 26. This followed the broadcast of a weekly programme Imvo n’Imvano (the heart of the problem), in which Rwandan citizens made comments that the authorities found “likely to obstruct national unity and reconciliation efforts” and “having no purpose but to incite hatred among Rwandans”.
