Sudanese UNISFA staff go on strike demanding to be paid in US dollars

November 2, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese local staff working for the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) announced that they will go on strike Tuesday demanding to be paid in US dollars.

Composed mainly of Ethiopian troops, the 4,000 strong force was established following the seizure of Abyei by the Sudanese army in May 2011 after clashes with the southern army (SPLA) in the area. Its main mandate is to ensure the redeployment of troops out of the contested area and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.

Sources told Sudan Tribune that 250 UNISAF national staff in Khartoum, the capital of South Kordofan state Kadugli and Dafra area, 30 kilometers north of Abyei has been demanding their salaries to be paid in US dollars instead of the faltering Sudanese pound just like their colleagues in South Sudan.

The move was motivated by the country’s high inflation rate and the fall of the Sudanese pound (SDG) following the secession of South Sudan and the austerity measures implemented to reduce Sudan’s budget deficit.

The staffers say their salaries do not cope with the rapidly rising cost of living and the deteriorating economic conditions in the country.

According to the sources, the Sudanese staff who will stage the strike on Tuesday include 55 permanent workers and 90 temporary workers in Kadugli and Dafra besides 100 workers in Khartoum.

The same sources pointed that UNISFA said the Sudanese foreign ministry refused to pay the salaries of the local staff in the international missions and organizations in hard currency.

They stressed that the local staff had previously asked the former foreign minister Ali Karti to allow them to receive their salaries in US dollar, saying the minister approved their request but the UNISFA makes flimsy excuses to avoid implementing the minister’s decision.

(ST)