South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
Students at the University of Bahr el Ghazal on Monday held protest after the university administration failed to provide them with meals.
Maluak Mayom Gak, a third year student from the college of education, said that the government has failed to pay it’s outstanding debt owed to the food supplier Pawak Company, prompting them to strike.
“The students you are seeing are demanding for food. Government should pay the company as soon as possible or our protest will not stop, they are protesting until government pays Pawak Company,” Gak told The Dawn in interview in Juba.
On April 24, 2024, Pawak decided to halt food supplies to the university over failure of the university administration to clear the debt.
“It is not a violent protest but since students are on the streets, it may turn into violence. We do not blame the company but government. I think lectures will not continue since there is no food,” Gak said.
Attempts to reach the administration of Bahr el Ghazal University for comment were futile by press time.
Paska, a student from the college of public health who preferred not to disclose her full names, so that to speak openly, said they only need food and if the government doesn’t pay the company, they will not stop the protest.
She said the students are protesting on the streets of Wau town in Western Bahr el Ghazal state.
“We are here demanding food, we only need food and we need the government to pay Pawak Company to continue providing our food, there is no another thing, we need food now,” Paska said.
Last week, the university students formed a committee that visited Zakaria Joseph Garang, the deputy governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal State to explain their situation but there was no immediate action taken.
Police have been heavily deployed near the main campus in Wau town.
