Initiated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Fondation Hirondelle, in agreement with CAR government, the station aims to:

• contribute to peace-keeping, to democratisation, as well as to economic and social development;
• highlight, in particular, issues related to human rights, the search for peace and initiatives in favour of peace.
• inform the population of the country;
• promote vocational training for journalists and technicians of CAR; and
• create a positive impact on local media.

Radio Ndeke Luka (RNL) aims to achieve its goals by broadcasting impartial, useful and professional information. The radio station broadcasts news bulletins, magazines and music programmes designed for the Central African Republic (CAR) population and other countries of the sub-region.


The broadcast area include Bangui and its surrounding area (a region with a population of around 1 million), as well as borderline areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the opposite bank of the Ubangi River. It broadcasts 24 hours per day, 7 days a week locally, as well as one hour per day internationally using shortwave.

Radio Ndeke Luka seeks to enable United Nations (UN) agencies, international organisations and NGOs to reach populations in the CAR and neighbouring regions. It also strives to help local media improve their output through vocational training, and by exchanging programmes and co-productions. RNL's objective is also to supply useful humanitarian information to populations which are victims of conflicts and violence, as well as to refugee, displaced and vulnerable populations in the sub-region.

Radio Ndeke Luka's information sources include UN agencies, international organisations and NGOs operating in the country, reports and enquiries carried out by its own personnel, as well the traditional information sources of journalists. The editorial board double-checks information items and also tries to gather first-hand evidence, accounts and data, especially when confronted with delicate situations.

Confict, Rights.

According to the station’s website, with “little or no exploited natural resources, an abyssal external debt, a bloodless economy and almost totally destroyed infrastructures, the Central African Republic belongs to the group of less advanced countries.” The country has also faced recurring political troubles. Apart from Radio Ndeke Luka, only the State radio is broadcasting in FM from the national territory. The other stations, like Radio France Internationale (RFI) or Africa One, have neither staff nor studio in the country. Outside Bangui, the access to professional and impartial information is extremely limited: newspapers from the capital have a restricted distribution, while the television and the radio are still picked up only in Bangui. Radio Minurca stopped transmitting on February 1, 2000, at the end of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA). In 19 months, Radio Minurca was considered to be the most credible radio in the CAR. United Nations agencies and international organisations considered Radio Minurca as a central element of their information and public-awareness campaigns aimed at the Central African population. Radio Ndeke Luka re-engaged the Radio Minurca team and launched its programmes on March 27, 2000. According to the organisers, numerous positive reactions from listeners showed that they have transferred their trust onto the new radio station.