South Sudan Violence Raises OFW Deployment Ban

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) had issued a resolution totally banning the deployment of Filipinos in South Sudan after violence erupted in the capital of Juba on December 15 between rebels headed by former vice president Riek Machar and ruling President Salva Kiir.

The POEA governing board approved Resolution No. 14 on Tuesday after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issued alert level 3 on South Sudan. The DFA also encouraged the voluntary repatriation of Filipino workers within the oil-producing region.

The resolution, which covers new hires and returning workers, was imposed due to the worsening political and security condition in the country. The resolution also said that on December 23, 2013, the DFA has raised the Crisis Alert level to alert level 3 in South Sudan, which means a total deployment ban of Filipino workers in the said country.

Authorities said on Thursday that the first batch of Filipino workers coming from South Sudan were welcomed by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). DFA statistics record shows that there is a total of 95 Filipinos in South Sudan, where most of them work in the construction and oil and gas industries.

The United Nations revealed on Thursday that about 58,000 civilians have already sought refuge in its compounds across South Sudan. The UN hope within the next 48 hours to begin receiving critical reinforcements of military hardware and personnel for its overstretched peacekeeping mission.

Earlier, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a plan proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to reinforce the strength of the force in South Sudan to 12,500 troops and 1,323 police.
The UN secretary General has said the additional 5,500 peacekeeping troops and 423 police would be drawn from nearby UN and African Union missions in Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Ivory Coast, the Sudanese regions of Darfur and Abyei.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn spoke with Kiir in Juba amid fears that violence in South Sudan could lead the country to an ethnic-based civil violence.

The conflict in South Sudan has quickly spread beyond the oil producing regions, dividing the landlocked country of 10.8 million along ethnic lines of the Nuer – Machar’s people – and the Dinka, where Kiir belongs.

South Sudan is a newly created landlocked state that gained independence from Sudan in 2011.