Students protest economic conditions in South Sudan

JUBA, Tuesday

Juba University students took to the streets to protest the worsening economic conditions in South Sudan.

The students accused President Salva Kiir of failing to end the ongoing civil war and reducing the cost of living.

They said the government was on the verge of collapse.

The learners marched from their campus to deliver their petition to the National Assembly.

Contacted, police spokesman Daniel Justin denied knowledge of the demonstration.

South Sudan has been in one crisis after another following its independence from Sudan in 2011.

A fallout between President Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar in 2013 sparked a row that has degenerated into a bloody ethnic conflict.

The president had accused Dr Machar of attempting a coup.

Meanwhile, South Sudan and Sudan have agreed to hold a meeting in Ethiopia’s capital on Sunday to address their disagreements, Sudanese Media Centre has reported.

“The two countries have agreed to hold the meeting under the patronage of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel on May 14 and 15,” Mahmoud Kan, chairman of the AU liaison office in Khartoum, said.

Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour will head his country’s delegation to the meeting.

The South Sudan group would be under Information Minister Michael Makuei.

Kan said the meeting would discuss the outstanding issues between the two sides including the demilitarised zone.

On March 8, 2013, Sudan and South Sudan signed a deal in Addis Ababa to implement a previously signed security arrangement, which called for immediate withdrawal of troops from the border and establishing a safe demilitarised zone.

The agreement also included other issues related to border demarcation and the two countries’ economies.

The deal, however, did not address the issue of oil-rich Abyei, which the two countries lay claim to.

They also claim border regions of Dabatal-Fakhar, Jabel Al-Migainis, Samaha and Kafia Kanjim.