Juba, South Sudan
June 8, 2022 — South Sudan government has denied approving the initiative to dredge the Nile tributaries including the acquisition of the Nile River dredging machines from Egypt, the office of the President said.
This comes after some intellectuals from Jenglei, and particularly from Bor counties, criticized the importation of dredging machines from Egypt.
They were delivered by the Egyptian government and received by the Minister of Water Resource and Irrigation, under the auspices of Manawa Peter in March.
Unity State Information Minister, David Gai, confirmed the machines arrived in the state over the weekend.
One of these critics is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Juba, Professor Akech, who has had sleepless nights over the two months criticizing the “Jonglei Canal” initiative through his Facebook account.
Professor Akech has tried to mobilize the army and security forces to intervene on the issues but when the security forces paid a deaf ear, Akech turns to mobilizing “10,000 signatures” to be submitted to President Kiir and perhaps Kiir may issue a Republican Decree to stop the dredging.
Akech made his appeal to academics, civil society, concerned citizens, and students, among others.
This, he said, is to stop the initiative to dredge the Nile tributaries.
When contacted on the matter, the press secretary in office of the President Ateny Wek Ateny said Salva Kiir was never informed about the machines.
“The government has not given any approval yet on clearing Nile water or clearing the plants that are inside the Nile. We have not yet been told about those machines completely,” Ateny told media on Tuesday in Juba.
“The government wanted to know from the experts, the ecological impact of clearing the Nile because their livelihood depends very much on the swamps, that extends to more than thousands square miles,South Sudan would want to know if the people who depend on these swamps will be affected.”, he added.
According to Ateny, the decision to dredge the Nile River was not people-centered but rather a unilateral one.
The Presidential Spokesperson said the government has invited external experts to engage with South Sudanese including intellectuals to arrive at a conclusive decision.
“The government of South Sudan is responsible and always does things after the studies and it cannot do things without study that shows the benefit will not outwit the negative impact,” said Ateny.
He said the government of South Sudan has called for experts to come, saying the issue will be a people-based discussion.
Ateny hopes that the “experts” will organize a forum to engage the academia, discuss the issues with intellectuals and civil society organizations,
“Any decision about Nile water will be a collective decision and will not be a unilateral decision by the government.”, Ateny said.
