South Sudan won't expel foreign workers: minister

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Government of South Sudan Wednesday said it will not be expelling foreign workers, reversing a policy announcement made the previous day that stoked 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,” Foreign minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin was quoted by AFP telling reporters Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Juba ordered non-government organisations (NGOs) and private firms to disengage foreign workers by mid-October and replace them with locals.

The move is likely to hit Kenyans, said to be the largest foreign workforce in Africa’s newest state, ranging from businessmen to NGOs and banks.

However, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho said Nairobi was yet to get a full brief on the development and had only read the circular from South Sudan’s Ministry of Labour directing the laying off of foreign workers.

“As you know since December last year, we have been evacuating our citizens from the country following the breaking out of civil war and we don’t expect a large population of our nationals outside Juba,” Kibicho said.

But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it does not have statistics on the number of Kenyans currently working in South Sudan.

The PS, who was speaking to journalists at the Safari Park Hotel while opening a three-week induction workshop for 25 newly appointed envoys, said Juba was yet to brief Nairobi of the new development.

“We have not received official communication; we also saw it on 411 (SMS breaking news alert service) last evening (Tuesday). We have tried to get in touch with their embassy here and will be issuing a comprehensive statement once we have full details,” he said.

Wednesday, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Defence Mongare Bw’Okongo said the directive was suspicious as it comes at a time when there is war in the new country.

Mr Bw’Okongo said Juba may be hitting directly at Nairobi for hosting rebels and asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene to safeguard the interests of Kenyans working or doing business in South Sudan.

“If the Juba decision touches on Nairobi’s agreement to host some of South Sudan’s rebels, then the matter should be brought urgently to Igad as this may spell doom for many Kenyan investors in South Sudan,” he said.

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Bw’Okongo, who is also the Nyamira Senator, wondered why President Silva Kiir, whose family lives in Nairobi, would give a directive that would impact negatively on citizens of his host country.

A statement signed by Labour and Public Service minister Ngor Kolong Ngor indicated that the directive targets those working in hotels, insurance companies, and banks among other organisations.

The institutions have been ordered to advertise the positions of executive directors, personnel managers, secretaries, human relations officers, public relations officers, procurement officers, front desk officers, protocol officers and receptionists that must be filled by “competent South Sudanese nationals” from October 15.

Kenya, which is believed to have the highest number of expatriates in South Sudan, however remained optimistic that the decision would not affect its citizens.

“I don’t think this affects Kenyans. We know that Kenya has invested heavily in South Sudan in areas that the country required support,” Kibicho said.

NGOs such as Oxfam say the move would have a huge impact on aid programmes at a time when they are providing humanitarian aid to over two million people who have been displaced by the 10-month war.

“South Sudan is on a knife-edge and could easily tip into famine in 2015. Even though the aid effort here is huge, it is not reaching many of the people who desperately need help,” Tariq Riebl, director of Oxfam in South Sudan, said in a statement.