Toby Lanzer- youtube.com

A senior UN official says South Sudan is unlikely to have a bright future because 80 per cent of the people in the country cannot read and write. 

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Toby Lanzer, made this statement as the year comes to an end, and the one year-conflict continues as the warring parties made no breakthrough in the negotiations.

Lanzer has urged the parties to the conflict to respect humanitarian aid workers to enable them support efforts of sending children back to school by next year.

“Let’s be realistic about this. If you have 80 per cent of the people in South Sudan who cannot read or write, the future is unlikely to be very bright. You need a massive literacy campaign and you need it rolled out for women in particular, men also, in every county of this country.” The UNOCHA boss said.

The UN estimates that close to two million people have been displaced by the conflict and over 100,000 of them have sought refuge in the bases of the UN Mission in South Sudan.