South Sudan's lecturers end strike as nation faces ruin

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan (AA) - University lecturers in South Sudan ended a month-long strike on Friday, finishing a dispute that highlights the dire financial straits of the world’s newest country.

The lecturers, who had not been paid for three months, said they would return to work after the government paid two months’ wages, Philip Finish Apollo, spokesman for the South Sudan Public Universities Staff Association, told Anadolu Agency.

He said the government had pledged to pay the outstanding amount in installments. “The general assembly agreed to lift the strike from today up to the end of September,” he said.

More than two years civil war has left South Sudan desperately short of revenue. Its oil output, which accounts for more than 90 percent of government finance, has fallen by a third to around 130,000 barrels per day as oil prices around the globe have plunged.

Earlier this week, the government said it could not afford to celebrate the country’s fifth independence anniversary on July 9.

Inflation in the capital Juba stands at more than 300 percent and the economy shrank 5.3 percent last year. According to the UN, up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan -- more than a third of the population -- face severe food shortages in the coming months.

Tens of thousands were killed and 2.4 million displaced during the war. A transitional government was formed in April to improve economic management, boost security, reduce corruption and stamp out human rights abuses before elections within 30 months.