Judges across South Sudan go on strike

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

Judges in South Sudan have gone on strike to demand the resignation of the country’s chief justice and better working conditions, chairman of the judges and justice committee said on Wednesday.

Khalid Abdalla Mohammed said the strike, which began on Tuesday, is the latest action by state employees in the nation blighted by civil war and worsening economic crisis.

Courts across the country ceased to operate after talks mediated by the government to end the dispute between the judges and the chief justice failed, Mohammed told a local newspaper in the capital, Juba.

The demand includes the enactment of judicial laws, improved working conditions, transport allowances and an increase in the number of courtrooms to tackle overcrowding.

Mohammed accused the government of playing politics over their demands, and alleged the chief justice was incompetent and could not perform his duties diligently.

“The judges petitioned the president for chief justice to resign or sack him but none of these demands has been fulfilled,” he said.

Presidential Adviser on Legal Affairs Lawrence Korbandy acknowledged the negotiations taking place with judges, but said they had defied a call for a dialogue with the president.

“The government has agreed to meet some of their demands during negotiations, and it is very surprising that they went ahead with the planned strikes,” Korbandy told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday in Juba.

Last year, judges across South Sudan staged a month-long strike citing the same complaints they made this year.

South Sudanese economy has been hit hard by more than three years of civil war that has left tens of thousands of people dead, slashed government revenue and sent annual inflation soaring to almost 900 percent, according to South Sudan’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The cash-strapped transitional unity government hopes to increase oil production in Unity and Upper Nile oil fields that was halted by the civil conflict and drop in global oil prices.

The country depends on oil exports to finance 98 percent of its fiscal budget and still awaits a promised financial bailout from the international community after it sent a high delegation to Washington last month to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.