Students at Rumbek University in South Sudan face disruption as lecturers and support staff begin a seven-day strike.

Mathew Malou, a lecturer at Rumbek University, told Radio Tamazuj today that teaching staff employed at the university went on strike since Tuesday, protesting against the delays in payment of salaries for five months.

Malou further said the academic staff are also complaining about the national government’s failure to implement the new unified salary structure for public universities.

He pointed out that there will be no lectures for one week if their demands are met. "We went on strike for seven days on November 27, and if the government does not meet our demands, we will go on another strike for three weeks," he explained.

Malou, who represents the lecturers, pointed to the possibility of an open-ended strike if their concerns are not addressed. The lecturer called for the implementation of the new unified salary structure for public universities.

On Wednesday, hundreds of students at Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology in Bor town protested against the cancellation of their examinations. The administration of the university suspended the remaining exam papers over non-payment of salaries to lecturers.

The exams which started in November 18 were schedule to end on 30 November.

In March, lecturers at the five public Universities demanded a pay rise that would bring their salaries into line with their colleagues in the East African region.

The five public universities are the University of Juba, Upper Nile University, the University of Bahr el Ghazal, Rumbek University and Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology.