South Sudan embassy in Cairo reopens as students abandon sit-in

JUBA – South Sudan embassy in the Egyptian capital Cairo has reopened after students who were camping inside the embassy building abandoned the week-long protest, one of the students told Sudans Post this afternoon.

Last week, dozens of South Sudanese students studying under government scholarship staged a sit-in at the embassy to demand services, they said they were promised to by the government when applying for Egyptian scholarship back in Juba.

Following days of protest inside the embassy, nine students were wounded and several others went missing after Egyptian police soldiers allegedly acting on orders of South Sudan ambassador to Egypt Joseph Moum Majak stormed the embassy in an attempt to disperse the sit-in.

Speaking to Sudans Post this afternoon, Tethloach Tor Lual – one of the students who camped at the embassy – said they left the embassy on Wednesday evening after the ministries of foreign affairs and higher education in Juba said they would sit with the Egyptian government.

“We left the embassy on Wednesday at around 3 or 4PM after we heard about the communication from the ministry of higher education and the ministry of foreign affairs that they will ask the Egyptian government is they cannot provide a full scholarship as they had promised,” he said.

“The ministries said that if the government of Egypt cannot provide full scholarship, then the government will have to seek other means in order for our students to continue their study at the expend of the government of South Sudan,” he added.

The South Sudanese student further said the embassy has since reopened after maintenance staff were brought in to fix damages caused following the attack on the embassy by the Egyptian police.

Speaking to Sudans Post separately on Thursday, a South Sudanese national who visited the embassy for a service said the embassy was working normally and was given a consular service which he was looking for from the embassy.