Sudan’s local UN staff says working with New York to resolve dispute on salaries
January 1, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The union of national staff at United Nations agencies in Sudan said it is in discussion with the UN leadership in New York regarding the dispute over how local staff salaries are paid.
This week, several Sudanese employees at the United Nations mission in Khartoum accused senior officials of conspiring against them by stopping payment of half their salaries in US dollars since last October as was the practice.
The local employees, who spoke to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity, said the mission used to pay half of the salaries of the local staff in US dollars through the United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU).
They disclosed that the UNFCU stopped paying their salaries in dollars since October, saying the bank told them the that move was a result of the sanctions imposed by the United States on Sudan.
The employees said that after pressing the UNFCU for more information, they realized that the move had nothing to do with the US sanctions; underscoring the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) had taken the measure in collaboration with some senior UN officials.
They assert that paying half of their salaries in dollar helps to offset fluctuations in the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound.
The union said in a statement sent to Sudan Tribune on Thursday that salaries of UN staff in Sudan were never stopped at any point.
It pointed out that disbursement of salaries is governed by laws and regulations and mechanisms within the organization that has nothing to do with the UN’s policy towards the host countries or vice versa.
They also denied making accusations against any party inside or outside of conspiring in this case and has no such proof.
Last week, Innercitypress website reporting from New York published an e-mail exchange between an unidentified UN official and the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) at the US in which the latter responded to an inquiry by saying that transfers of salaries for UN staff in Sudan dollar is not subject to restrictions of US sanctions.
It also published a letter from UNFCU which cited the US sanctions as reason for the move along with suspension other banking services for local staff.
According to sources that spoke to the website, the outgoing UN Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan, Ali al-Za’atari was behind this change in which the portion of salaries in US dollars was transferred to the Bank of Khartoum dollars into a savings account but deposited in Sudanese pound.
The website suggested that al-Za’atari did this in order to “appease” Khartoum which has been subject to comprehensive US economic and financial sanctions since 1997. In 2007, former US president George Bush introduced additional sanctions that barred 31 companies controlled by the government from doing business in the U.S. financial system.
(ST)