A radio station in Amsterdam is a lifeline for Sudan. After USAID cuts, it's faltering

A radio station in Amsterdam is a lifeline for Sudan. After USAID cuts, it's faltering Reporter Elamin Babow reads the latest headlines in Radio Dabanga's office in Amsterdam on Oct. 16. The station is a lifeline for Sudanese people trying to get information about their war-torn country. Indy Scholtens for NPR hide caption toggle caption AMSTERDAM - When Radio Dabanga abruptly cut its morning broadcast earlier this year because of budget shortfalls, the station's editor-in-chief, Kamal Elsadig, knew the consequences would go far beyond the walls of the modest office in Amsterdam. Messages began pouring in almost immediately from Sudanese listeners who rely on the exile-run station as their only reliable link to the outside world. "We don't know what is happening to our families and we depend very much on Radio Dabanga," one listener wrote to the station from a refugee camp in eastern Chad. Another in war-torn Sudan made a plea: "We hope that the morning service is resumed soon. It is important to us in Northern Sudan." A poster advertises a fundraiser for Radio Dabanga, a station dedicated to news from Sudan, on a restaurant window in Amsterdam on Oct. 22. Indy Scholtens for NPR hide caption toggle caption Radio Dabanga is the last independent Sudanese news station, broadcasting from exile some 3,000 miles away in Amsterdam since 2008. For millions of Sudanese living through a deadly civil war, it is a rare source of verified information. But its future is in doubt. Early this year, President Trump slashed most U.S. foreign assistance programs . As U.S. aid has made up more than half of the radio's budget of almost $3 million , the radio had to cut staff, freelancers and even its morning news service for a short time. "They saying, what's going on? We didn't hear Dabanga today," Elsadig recalled. "Is there any problem happening? Please tell us, because this is the only way we get information." A country in the dark Sudan's war has created one of the world's greatest humanitarian crises. In 2023, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces. Since then, the fighting has killed 150,000 people and forced about 14 million Sudanese to leave their homes, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Statistics are hard to obtain as fighting continues and severe hunger grips part of the country. And amid the crisis, access to information is scarce. According to a report from Free Press Unlimited, an Amsterdam-based international press freedom organization, about 90% of media infrastructure has been destroyed in Sudan. More than 400 journalists have fled the country. And according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than a dozen journalists and media workers have been killed or kidnapped. "So the Sudan is become completely in a darkness of access to information," Elsadig said. From Amsterdam, the journalists at Radio Dabanga try to shed some light on the dire situation. They report on where fighting has erupted, on disease outbreaks in refugee camps, and...

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