The Republic of South Sudan has announced a new time zone different from one by the East African region.
“The National Ministry of Labor hereby informs all the Civil Service Institutions, Commissions, Diplomatic Missions, UN agencies, International and National Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the public at large that South Sudan has changed its official time from UTC+3 to UTC=2 which is based on South Sudan’s real location on the globe,” a statement released on Friday read in part.
According to the statement from the Ministry of Labor, the current time in the youngest country that got independence in 2011 will be set back by one hour.
The South Sudan government spokesperson, Michael Makuei Lueth, told The East African newspaper on Friday the country has not been using her real-time according to the Greenwich Meridian Time.
“The current time zone is not our actual time zone…We are in the 30th longitude and as such we are supposed to be two hours ahead of the Greenwich Time zone. So, it was clear that the far East is 2.4 hours and the far west is 1.6 hours,” he said.
Government however noted that they will maintain their working hours from 8am to 5pm as most of the neighbouring countries.
The latest development will mean that South Sudan will now be the same time zone as Sudan, Malawi and Egypt.
