Journalists Who Go Where “Nobody Else Will”
Simona Foltyn and Jason Patinkin are some of the few journalists reporting on the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. As fellows of the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, they have traveled to the country and its border regions with the Museum’s support. Their stories increase public awareness of the mass atrocities being committed and have been published in Foreign Policy, Reuters, and other global media. They also were projected onto the Museum’s exterior walls during the annual Our Walls Bear Witness exhibition. They recently spoke with Memory & Action about their work.
How would you describe the current situation in South Sudan?
Patinkin: It is a war that seems intractable and has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Up to a third of the country’s population has fled their homes due to fighting or hunger. There are more than two million refugees from South Sudan now in neighboring countries and uncounted tens of thousands of people are probably dead. It’s all the most horrific stuff you can imagine.
What are the challenges of reporting on the conflict?
Foltyn: It has become increasingly difficult to work in South Sudan as a journalist. In 2017, over 20 foreign journalists were basically kicked out of the country or denied visas to enter.
Patinkin: Yes, it is a really bad climate for press freedom, which deters people to go in. Also, it’s incredibly expensive to get to South Sudan, and there are huge logistical challenges to moving around because there aren’t many roads. The conflict is taking place in swamps and forests where you can’t protect yourself. Simona and I avoid any potential clashes at all costs, because if we are in a firefight, the chances of getting shot are quite high and no one can take care of us medically.
How has your fellowship with the Museum changed the way you are covering the conflict?
Foltyn: Because of the fellowship, Jason and I have been able to cover the stories that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise, and do it thoroughly and safely. To give a simple example, we were able to hire a car and a driver instead of taking motorcycles, which we would usually do.
Patinkin: We’ve been able to go in and actually report what’s going on … . We got to see soldiers who are along one of the most important frontlines of the war … [and] evidence of atrocities, such as burned huts and ransacked civilian infrastructure, like a church, a school, and the hospital.
On our most recent trip supported by the Museum, we went to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a place called Aba, where there are some 30,000 South Sudanese refugees. I think we were the first foreign journalists to go there.
Can you describe some of the memorable encounters you have had while reporting for in South Sudan?
Foltyn: On one of our recent trips, we were speaking to a few women who had joined the rebels. They have children of their own who were in the camps in Uganda, and I was asking them, “Why did you not just leave like everybody else? … How can you be here in the bush fighting while your family is there?” And what they said was, “Look, if we don’t fight, then my children will have no country to go back to.”
Patinkin: In July 2016, after the battle of Juba, I was interviewing people in a UN camp that had been attacked … I can’t forget the despair that was in their words or the eyes of women who had just witnessed rape or been raped. And the feelings of others who had lost relatives or just the feeling of utter abandonment by the international community, that’s something that will always anger me.
What is the importance of bearing witness in South Sudan?
Foltyn: In many places we went to, there was no UN or any other international organization. Even the local churches that have traditionally been regarded as neutral peace brokers sometimes struggle to negotiate access. There have been allegations of ethnic cleansing, and we felt that we needed to go to these areas and speak to civilians who lived there. These areas have been extremely undercovered, and we feel that if we don’t go to these places, then nobody else will.
It’s important to put things on the record. You know one day perhaps there will be a justice process in South Sudan to hold those who committed atrocities to account, and perhaps our body of work will contribute to it.
I take comfort in the idea that I went to a certain village and documented the crimes against humanity or the atrocities that were committed there and then put it on the record. Nobody can claim that it never happened.
Learn more about the Museum’s work in South Sudan at ushmm.org/south-sudan.
This article was first published in May 2018.
