US radio to broadcast from Djibouti

The governments of Djibouti and the United States have signed an agreement on setting up radio relay stations in Djibouti to be financed by the US, the official Djibouti news agency (ADI) reported. The agreement, signed on 18 June, provides for the installation of a medium wave transmitter and a 5-kW FM transmitter at the state-owned Radio-Television Djibouti's (RTD) relay station in Arta (southern Djibouti). According to the agency, the transmitters "will relay Arabic radio programmes to the East African region and the Arabian peninsula". A 2-kW FM transmitter will also be installed at RTD premises in Djibouti to relay Voice of America programmes in English, French and Arabic to listeners in Djibouti, it added. "The government has granted the use of the 1431 kHz frequency for the medium wave broadcasts and the 100.8 and 100.2 MHz channels for the FM broadcasts," the agency said. The agreement, which was signed for Djibouti by Communications Minister Rifki Abdoulkader Bamakhrama, and for the US by the its ambassador to Djibouti, Donald Yamamoto, is worth between US $7 million and $8 million. The transmitters are for Radio Sawa, which was launched in March by the US government as part of its efforts to provide "accurate and objective news and information programming in the Arab world" following the 11 September events in the US, the French news agency AFP added.