South Sudan government said on Monday that it will not celebrate the 9th July Independence Day blaming the absence of funds to conduct this.
Information Minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, said there will be no celebrations at the national level but said the president will deliver his usual Independence Day message to the nation.
“There will be no celebration at the national level, but there will be a low-profile celebration at the Presidency, because we don’t want to lose money for doing celebration as we used to do,” Makuey said.
“The President will deliver his Independence Day message to the people during the small celebration,” he added.
Since 2014, the government has not been organizing an independence celebration over lack of funds.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war. An overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted in a January 2011 referendum to secede and become Africa's first new country since Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993.