Khartoum Accused Of Confiscating University Assets South Sudan has accused Khartoum of confiscating assets of her three main national universities (Juba, Bar El Ghazal and Upper Nile) relocated from the South to the north during the decades of civil war between the two countries. 13 September 2011 Khartoum Accused Of Confiscating University Assets Dr. Peter Adwok, the South Sudan Minister of High Education, Research and Technology briefing the press in his office in Juba [©Gurtong]
By Waakhe Simon Wudu JUBA, 13th September 2011 [Gurtong] - South Sudan has accused Khartoum of confiscating assets of her three main national universities (Juba, Bar El Ghazal and Upper Nile) relocated from the South to the north during the decades of civil war between the two countries. To date the University Campuses have not reopened since the beginning of this year, the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Peter Adwok told the press in Juba yesterday. South Sudan has five national universities that are currently not operational and at least 30 private ones which the government has vowed to close down on grounds that they are not recognized. “After the announcement of the referendum results early this year, the Sudanese government ordered the impounding of assets from these universities, making it impossible to restart the academic program in time,” Dr. Adwok said. “The impounding of the properties affected their operation, everything is still in Khartoum; libraries, laboratories, files and all equipments for operations are all in Khartoum,” he added. Efforts reached by higher authorities of the two countries in an attempt to resolve the confiscation of these assets have been futile as the Minister said. “There is very little chance that these assets will be released in view of the developing political situation between the south and north,” he regretted. “The Vice President Dr Riek Machar earlier this year in March, met the Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and we talked about it. It was agreed that the assets which were in Coast-(port in Khartoum) would be released but nothing happened,” Dr. Adwok revealed. He said the assets of the three universities of; Juba, Bar El Ghazal and Upper Nile were impounded after been loaded in a boat in the Coast of Khartoum ready to be transferred to South Sudan. During the civil war in Sudan, South Sudan decided to relocate her main national campuses to Khartoum as they were in a higher risk of destruction then by the Sudanese Armed Forces. Meanwhile the minister was optimistic that the campuses will open on October 1st according to new reschedule drawn. However, whether the universities will open, students expressed doubts as there are no structures for accommodating thousands of students who came from Khartoum during repatriation after attaining independence. Posted in: Home, Education -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
