UK launches Juba cleaning campaign

UK State Minister at the Department for International Development (DFID) Thomas Gareth on Thursday said his government is launching a three year twenty million pound project to clean up Juba city. Briefing journalists in old Custom Rubbish park, Gareth said that his government is collaborating with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in launching the Juba Clean-up Campaign: “So we can continue to support the people of Southern Sudan and help the Government of Southern Sudan to realize its ambition to see more development for the three years ahead”.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Housing, Land and Public Utilities in the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), Martin O. Okerruk, said that Southern Sudan is in a serious state of filth and disrepair.  Any attempt to liberate the country of its dirt is always welcomed, adding that especially Juba as the South’s capital city is in a very hazardous environment. Okerruk urged Gareth to continue supporting the liberation of the situation in Southern Sudan and to continue sending technocrats to analyze the situation of the country, because the lives of the people are in danger from disease and dirt. He stressed that “it’s my hope that the situation of Juba should be addressed seriously, otherwise we stand in very great perils of hell and lives of the people of Juba”.

The Commissioner of Juba County Dr. Pius Subek on his side urged the support of the people of Juba so as to achieve the campaign "Keeping the City Clean". He added that his effort as the implimenter won’t be enough to achieve the success of keeping the City clean. Eng. Siva Clerk as the director general in the Ministry of Housingof GosSS said that the problems of Southern Sudan are numerous, however they are trying also all the efforts in addressing them the way the British Minister put their efforts. He emphasized that the situation of the city in those days of war perils can’t be compared to the current one: “Although we have meager resources, we are trying our level best in addressing the issue”.

Juba Post hard copy 19th October 2009

With the rapid growth of the city and the absence of a sustainable waste management system, the people of Juba have endured repeated fatal outbreaks of cholera, waterborne diseases and malaria. The clean-up, which will be replicated in the nine states of Southern Sudan, will be coupled with a sustained awareness-raising campaign to encourage the citizens of Juba to adopt an environmentally friendly attitude towards the disposal of waste in the city.

The initiative forms part of country-wide environmental programme implemented by UNEP to assist the people of Sudan to achieve sustainable peace, recovery and development by improving the management of natural resources. In addition to the waste management project, the recently established UNEP office in Juba will provide technical support to the Government to manage its forests and other valuable natural resources in a sustainable manner and work to build the capacity of Government ministries to address environmental issues affecting Southern Sudan and implement the 24 recommendations of UNEP’s Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment, published in June 2007.

After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005, UNEP was requested to conduct a Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment of Sudan. The assessment was conducted in 2006 and a comprehensive report was launched in July 2007. With funding from DFID and USAID, UNEP established an office in Khartoum in November 2007 to follow through the recommendations and support delivery of the environmental elements of Sudan’s CPA and other national priorities.

During the period 2007-2009, three projects were implemented in Darfur: the Darfur Timber and Energy, the Integrated Water Resources Management, and the Aid and Environment Projects. The new phase of the programme, which is supported by a £20 million grant from DFID over three years, marks the expansion of the programme and the establishment of project offices in Juba and in El Fasher, Darfur.