Southern Sudan: Civil Service Almost Ready

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000987 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON ELAB SU SUBJECT: Southern Sudan: Civil Service Almost Ready REF: Khartoum 00322 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The long awaited civil service reform in Southern Sudan will be complete within the next few weeks, according to the newly appointed Under Secretary at the Ministry of Labor, Public Service, and Human Resource Development. Under Secretary Mark Zangabeyo told Acting Consul General Juba (A/CG) that his ministry is serving as the human resource arm of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS),and as such has been coordinating the effort to review the qualifications of all current government employees. He said that the civil service, which now includes workers from both Khartoum's Government Coordinating Council (GCC) and the SPLM's Civil Authority of New Sudan (CANS),will be thinned considerably. Although this will create some unemployment problems, Zangabeyo feels it is necessary for the functioning of the government and a vocational skills program should help ease the transition. End Summary. -------------- Making a List, Checking it Twice -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Over the past several months, every ministry has been charged with reviewing the qualifications of all its employees from both civil services and comparing them to the ministry's needs. Employees are judged based on their experience, education, and past performance. The Ministry of Labor has now collected the results and is performing a final review. Zangabeyo says that appointments should be announced within the next few weeks. ¶3. (U) Currently, the members of the GCC are getting paid by the Government of National Unity, while the CANS employees are working under an incentive, benefits, and per diem system called "consolidated pay." Once the civil service is unified, all workers will be paid by the GoSS. -------------- The GoSS HR Source -------------- ¶4. (SBU) According to Zangabeyo, the Ministry of Labor is preparing itself to be the one-stop shop for all GoSS human resource needs, from hiring and firing to training and labor law drafting. The ministry will also take the lead in creating vocational training opportunities for all Southern Sudanese. ¶5. (SBU) The initial focus for vocational training will be civil service members not retained, demobilized SPLA soldiers, and members of the diaspora returning to the South. Zangabeyo said that demobilized SPLA troops will be a particular priority, and that in addition to training, there will be a program to give preferential hiring to these veterans for all government jobs. -------------- Bio Note -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Zangabeyo is a Zande from the Tambura area. He led the residents of the Mboki refugee camp in the Central African Republic from 1990-1995. After that, he was the SPLM's chief representative for refugee issues in Bangui. Zangabeyo served in the Ministry of Labor under the Nimieri regime and was part of the first Southern Sudanese government in 1972, where he helped draft the south's original 1973 Civil Service Act. STEINFELD