The South Sudanese national government announced a three-day public holiday from Monday to Wednesday. The holiday includes two previously planned off-days plus one extra day.

In a public notice, the Ministry of Labour in Juba stated, “the Moslem Eid El Fithr holiday will commence on Monday, 28th July 2014 and ends on Wednesday 30th July 2014, which also coincides with the Martyrs Day holiday on 30th July 2014.”

The notice, signed by Acting Undersecretary of Labour Clement Philemon Biame, was directed to “all the Government Institutions, Commissions, UN Agencies, Diplomatic Missions, International and National NGOs, Private Sector and the Public at large.”

Work will resume on Thursday, the ministry said.  

The announcement contradicts an earlier circular by Undersecretary of Labour Hellen Achiro, which did not include 29 July in a list of annual holidays.

According to the February circular RSS/MoLPS&HRD/J/OUS/24/4, which included a full list of holidays for 2014, the Eid Al Fitr holiday was to be observed “2 days for Muslims and Christians” on Sunday and Monday, 27-28 July.

Last year, 2013, the ministry likewise in its annual list set Eid al-Fitr as a one-day holiday for non-Muslims, but changed this to three days in a last-minute announcement.

In most previous years, the Ministry of Labour announced Eid al-Fitr holiday to be observed for three days by Muslims and one day by non-Muslims.

World Aids Day last December was also unexpectedly declared a public holiday, though it had not been included in the annual holiday list.

Martyrs’ Day on Wednesday is the anniversary of the SPLM founder John Garang’s death in 2005, and annually is observed as a holiday ever since.

It remains unclear to what extent humanitarian operations will be affected by the extra holiday. Some humanitarian air flights had already been cancelled for Monday.

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