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South Sudan President Fires Finance Minister Amid an Economic Crisis

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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South Sudan President Fires Finance Minister Amid an Economic Crisis

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has fired the country's finance minister without giving a reason, although the move comes amid worsening inflation and a sharp depreciation of the local currency against the dollar.
The dismissal of the minister, Bak Barnaba Chol, was announced in a decree read on state TV late on Friday, Reuters said.
As the country's economic crisis has deepened, some civil servants have also gone for six months without being paid salaries.
Over the past two months the local currency, the South Sudanese pound, has lost about half of its value against the dollar, fuelling a surge in prices of food and other essential goods.
Chol, 43, an ally of Kiir, was appointed as finance minister last August and had undertaken various reforms including trying to clean the government employee register to get rid of so called ghost staff and also to plug revenue leakages.
Kiir appointed Awow Daniel Chuong, a former minister for petroleum, to replace him.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.