Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:28:47 +0200
South Sudan won't expel foreign workers
<http://www.afp.com/> AFP
17/09/2014
Juba (AFP) - The government in war-torn South Sudan said Wednesday it will
not be expelling any foreign workers, reversing a policy announcement made
the previous day 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," Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told
reporters.
"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," he added.
On Tuesday the government published a decree ordering NGOs, 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.
It said the resulting vacancies, ranging from receptionists to company
directors, should be filled by government-vetted South Sudanese nationals.
South Sudan has been gripped by civil war for the past nine months, with aid
agencies warning that the world's youngest nation is on the brink of a
man-made famine.
According to the United Nations, 1.3 million people have been displaced
internally, and many of them are dependent on free food, shelter and
healthcare delivered by a network of international aid groups.
The minister, however, 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 regional neighbours including
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda are in the country, and together
they run South Sudan's mobile telephone network, banking sector, upstream
oil activities, hotels and other key infrastructure.
South Sudan itself suffers from a major shortage of skilled workers, with
only around a quarter of the population able to read and write.
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