Many of the 1.3-million displaced people are dependent on supplies from organisations such as the UN
The South Sudanese government said on Wednesday that it will not be expelling any foreign workers, reversing a policy announcement made a day earlier that met with protests from aid agencies and neighbouring countries.
“We would like to make a clear statement that there is no statement in the Republic of South Sudan saying that they are expelling foreign workers in this country. The government of South Sudan is not expelling any foreign worker in South Sudan,” said Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin.
“I can assure the fellow Kenyans in this country, not only Kenyans alone but Ugandans, Eritreans, Ethiopians and all the other neighbouring countries who are here, they are all very much welcome to this country.”
On Tuesday the government published a decree ordering nongovernmental organisations, private companies, hotels, banks, insurance, telecommunications and petroleum companies “to notify all aliens working with them in all positions to cease working” within a month.
Government-vetted South Sudanese nationals were to fill the resulting vacancies, which ranged from receptionists to company directors.
On the brink of famine
South Sudan has been gripped by civil war for the past nine months and aid agencies have warned that the country is on the brink of a man-made famine. The number of internally displaced people has reached 1.3-million, according to the United Nations, and many of them are dependent on the free food, shelter and healthcare that a network of international aid groups delivers.
The minister appeared to suggest that the decree had been released prematurely, saying that the country’s labour ministry was still in the process of working on employment regulations.
He said laws on which jobs could go to foreigners and which positions should be held by nationals “will be discussed later”.
Tens of thousands of skilled workers from neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda are working in the country. Together they run South Sudan’s mobile telephone network, banking sector, upstream oil activities, hotels and other key infrastructure.
South Sudan has a major shortage of skilled workers with only around a quarter of the population able to read and write. – AFP