The directive comes five months after the cabinet asked the ministry to pay at least $100 million to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clear the arrears of diplomats and staff of South Sudan embassies.

In the latest move, the August house also directed the Finance Ministry to clear government salary arrears amounting to over 174 billion pounds.

Agak Achuil, the Minister of Finance and Planning told the media shortly after the passing of the fiscal year budget for 2021/2022 that he will pay the arrears as soon as he gets the money.

“It is now on my desk and we are working on that as soon as we get the money, we will clear those arrears,” the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning said.

“When I came in, I paid them 3 months, it was 27 months and I paid 3 months. It came back to 24 months and the other months added to it now it became 25 months.

“Its about 25 months which have not been paid and we are working very hard to make sure that all these months of foreign missions are cleared.”

Over the past years, Juba has been struggling to maintain its foreign missions over alleged financial constraints.

Last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said it would reconsider cutting down on the number of its staff in foreign missions.

This came amidst criticism from members of the public who believed that the government is spending more money on foreign missions without meaningful benefits as civil servants go for nearly months without pay.

In 2015, South Sudan had 25 functioning embassies across the world, and had plans to open up more as a way of improving the country’s engagement and relations with other countries.

But in the years that followed, the embassies experienced a reduction in the number of personnel, while others faced evictions over unpaid rent.

The government said each foreign mission had between 20 to 25 staff -with non-essential workers, which increases salaries and other operational costs.

The foreign affairs ministry said it would continue to review the status of its then 39 embassies and consulates before deciding on the number to be closed.

In June 2019, the government announced plans to close South Sudan’s embassies in France, Norway, Ghana, Kuwait and Italy, among others due to the economic crisis.

The decision was criticized by political commentators who believed it could lead to international isolation of South Sudan.

Two months later, President Salva Kiir abandoned the decision to close down foreign missions in some European countries.