1.
SVs Villagers with satellite station aerial in background - Juba, Sudan (3 shots)
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2.
SV Baby sitting on ground PAN TO LV AND SVs AND GV aerial dish (5 shots)
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3.
SV & GV Armed troops guarding satellite station (2 shots)
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4.
SVs President Ja'afar Al-Nimeiry of Sudan arriving in open car to spectators' cheers and greeted (3 shots)
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5.
SV Nimeiry and others symbolically leaping over cow being slaughtered to laughter and applause
1.23

6.
CUs Nimeiry adjusting television set showing picture from satellite station (2 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION Sudan's President Ja'afar Al-Nimeiry opened a new satellite station in Juba on Sunday (6 March). It's part of an extensive programme designed to vastly improve communications throughout the country.

SYNOPSIS: Under the plan, there are 14 stations and one of these will be opened every month until all are in operation. The first, at Nyala, began operations last month.

The system is being built by a United States company and will bring television, radio, and long-distance telephone services to all areas. Previously, communication had been poor throughout Sudan, the largest country in Africa. When completed, it will be one of the biggest domestic satellite communication systems on the continent.

The stations have been designed so they can be linked in with other international systems if necessary.

President Nimeiry's government is trying to improve the lot of the Sudanese people and this satellite link is part of that programme. The Sudan's one of the world's least developed countries, but it faces increasingly better economic future.

It's nearly as large as India and has vast untapped resources with Arab financial backing to exploit them. But one of the biggest problems is the poor communications and lack of an all-weather road. An extensive new road link should be completed by 1980.

But while the nation strides into 20th century space-age technology, old customs are not forgotten. Sunday's ceremony called for a sacrifice -- so a white bull was slaughtered while President Nimeiry symbolically leaped over it.