By Ephraim Modi Duku Sokiri
The Embassy of South Sudan, accredited to the Republic of Uganda is demanding the management of NTV Uganda television to tender an apology following a wrong footage script making round of headlines on social media over the war in Sudan mistakenly reported by NTV Uganda as South Sudan Fighting.
The demand came in a letter issued yesterday to the management of NTV Uganda.
South Sudan made the need yesterday over the footage script aired on NTV- Uganda television on Sunday,16th April news hour whereas they referred in their headline, the political unrest in the Republic of Sudan as ‘South Sudan Fighting’, in which according to them the conflict is occurring in South Sudan.
“The Embassy of the Republic of South Sudan has written to NTV- Uganda to demand an apology and reassure investors and Ugandans that South Sudan is safe,” the statement stated.
The Republic of South Sudan gained independence on 11th July 2011 on a plebiscite conduct where the people of Southern Sudan opted to be members of its own state ‘the Republic of South Sudan’.
NTV is a subsidiary of the Nation Media Group that runs its activities in Uganda, an immediate neighborhood that must have a better knowledge of its neighbors and must have adhered to the ethics of good journalism by feeding its viewers with dependable information.
Meanwhile, the management of NTV is yet to respond on the matter.
On the other part, the Uganda’s Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkunyingi Muwada yesterday issued a travel guide to their stranded nationals in Sudan.
“As a result, we have received distress calls from several Ugandan nationals stranded in Sudan. Several narrate that they are trapped in areas of intense fighting including Uganda transit travels at Sudan Airport. Several Uganda citizens estimated in thousands live, work or regularly exit for Sudan,” he wrote.
Through the Foreign Affairs Ministry and its Mission in the Sudan’s capital Khartoum, he condemned and urged the Uganda regime to immediately initiate diplomatic measures of rescuing the thousands of the Ugandans in Sudan.
“We condemn the Uganda regime and foreign Ministry for failure to issue timely travel advisory for Uganda nationals exiting for or through Sudan,” the statement read.
“We accordingly advise Uganda travelers to avoid travel to or through Sudan for now until the situation normalizes. We encourage passengers to use alternative transit routes instead of Sudan airports or border,” he added.