April 17, 2020 (Nyamilepedia) — South Sudan’s Defense Minister Angelina Teny is calling on the country’s Finance Ministry to release at least three months pay for soldiers currently under unification process.
She says the money will cushion families of the joint transitional government soldiers during the coronavirus pandemic.
“COVID-19 is having an impact on the livelihood and this is why we also raised through the task force to the ministry of finance that they should avail salaries at least of the last three months,” Angelina said.
“Our members [of the organize forces] should be able to store something little so that they prevent the movements and that for us is very important and it is very essential.”
“We hope today that the national taskforce will resolve on the matter, it was waiting upon the availability of the minister of finance and hopefully, he will be with us today in this meeting and hopefully we would have that addressed favorably.”
South Sudan is one of the World’s Oil dependent countries. With the covid-19 pandemic sending prices to their lowest, it is expected that it’s economy will slide into further turmoil.
The pandemic has affected work and economy after President Salva Kiir announced preventive measures which include the closure of non-essential businesses and the ban of all social gatherings.
Six years of civil war between the forces of President Salva Kiir and those of his former deputy-turned rebel leader Riek Machar ended in February after more than a year of negotiations.
The announcement of a new, unified government has been met with cautious optimism. Past ceasefires and peace deals between the feuding leaders failed to end the conflict that killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions more.
To ensure peace, the new government forced more than 50,000 police officers, soldiers, and rebels into camps to become its new, unified peacekeeping force. They’ll be deployed across the country to handle everything from fighting fires to guarding the president.
