South Sudanese students in Egypt end embassy protest

July 7, 2013 (RUMBEK) – South Sudanese students in Egypt have agreed to end their three-week sit in at the country’s embassy in Cairo after meeting with a delegation dispatched to resolve the protest against their treatment by the ministry or education.

The protest had effectively made the embassy closed for business, with students saying they would sleep there until they were given allowances they were due to receive to pay for accommodation and other costs.

South Sudan’s minister of higher education science and technology, Peter Adwork Nyaba, headed the delegation, which included Thamson Ezekiel, chairperson of the education commission at the national parliament and Dr. Benjamin Gabriel Apai, the ministry’s director of scholarships and external relations.

The heated meeting between the students and officials was also attended by South Sudan’s Ambassador to Egypt, Athony Luis Kon.

The student’s spokesman, Julius Zindiah Madit, said they had been forced to occupy the embassy after a delay in their bursaries had led to them being evicted from their university accommodation by Egyptian authorities.

Madit explained that the meeting had addressed some of the causes for the protest such as payment of bursaries, accommodation and food allowances but had failed to resolve issues like providing funds for stationary and medical care.

However, minister Nyaba warned the students that South Sudan’s dire economic situation may been further delays in payments if there are any further issues exporting Southern crude oil through Sudanese territory.

South Sudan stopped production in January 2012 as part of a transit fee dispute with Khartoum. This had appeared to be resolved after a deal was reached in March but in June Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir threatened to close the landlocked nation’s only export route over Juba’s alleged support for Sudanese rebels.

The minister’s explanations brought a series questions from the students who pointed out that it was the government who had sponsored and brought them to Egypt to study only to fail to support them.

Nyaba said that the delayed stipends might need the approval of South Sudan’s council of ministers because the 2013 budget will be finalised in July.
 
(ST)