Japan gives S. Sudan $350,000 for water at cantonment sites

October 5, 2019 (JUBA) – The Japanese government has donated $350,000 to aid supply of water at cantonments sites in South Sudan.

Speaking to reporters in the capital, Juba, South Sudan’s Cabinet Affairs minister, Martin Elia Lomoro said the contribution from Japan will specifically be used to provide water to the cantonment sites.

The project, he said, will jointly be implemented with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) office in Juba.

“IGAD will use its procurement procedures to identify the provider and help us identify where boreholes will be built,” said Lomoro.

According to the minister, the donation was part of a cooperation agreement South Sudan signed with Japan as part of the Asian nation’s contribution to the implementation of the peace accord.

Meanwhile, the Japanese ambassador to South Sudan, Seiji Okada, said his country fully supports effort to implement the peace deal.

He urged the warring parties in South Sudan to expedite the process of creating a unified force as part of the security arrangements.

Creating a unified army and determining the number of states and their boundaries remain the biggest challenges in the peace deal.

The Japanese envoy appealed to the warring parties in South Sudan’s conflict to resolve all outstanding issues prior to the formation of the transitional national unity government in November.

South Sudan descended into civil war in mid-December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused the country’s former Vice President, Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

In September 2018, the rival factions involved in the conflict signed a peace deal to end the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced over 2 million people in the country

(ST)