South Sudan probes fire of census commission
May 3, 2007 (JUBA) – Southern Sudan government ordered high level probe the cause of census commission fire last week. However, official said planned census would not be affected by the accident.
The Government of Southern Sudan has instructed all security organs, including the police and intelligence agencies, to investigate the cause of the fire that burned the offices of Southern Sudan Commission for Census, Statistics and Evaluation (SSCCSE) last Friday, the Sudan radio Service reported.
The deputy chairperson of the investigation committee and the Director for Monitoring and Evaluation in the commission, Philip Dau, told Sudan Radio Service that no arrests have been made so far, but the investigation is underway and he promised that findings would soon be given to the Government of Southern Sudan.
Meanwhile, the information technology officer at the SSCCSE, Manyon Thieu, said information critical to the planned census later this year can be recovered. He pointed out that the information gathered for the forthcoming census and stored in the SSCCSE has been lost; however, he said that the same information has been circulated to the 10 states of southern Sudan, so can be retrieved.
The SSCCSE is partnering with the national census commission in Khartoum to carry out a count of the entire Sudanese population later this year.
(SRS/ST)