GOSS Minister says universities part of talks on post-referendum

Joseph Okello, Minister of Higher Education in the Government of Southern Sudan, said that the deportation of universities in the North to the South is on the negotiating table. Okello said the issue could be part of a deal on post-referendum arrangements between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the National Congress Party.The universities had moved from the Southern towns to Khartoum during the civil war, and some have still not returned.

Okello told Radio Dabanga that the transfer of the students poses the problem of finding student housing and infrastructure. He stressed that the transfer could be made within six months after the referendum on self-determination for the South this coming January.