South Sudan’s cabinet under the leadership of the SPLM-Juba faction has given an ultimatum to senior officials to leave hotels where they have been staying at the government’s expense.

The officials living at the hotels are expected to leave by 25 December. 

Sources at the ministry of finance and cabinet affairs said some officials moved into hotels for security reasons when violence erupted in December 2013. Other officials have been living in Juba's hotels since even before the crisis, racking up bills over extended periods of time.

The cabinet has also approved a resolution mandating the Ministry of Finance to pay at least 13,182,374 South Sudanese pounds to clear hotel charges.

The billing charges, according to the cabinet resolution, will settle the bills for senior government officials who were accommodated in various hotels in capital, Juba. The decision for the government to pay the bills was made at Friday's meeting of the Council of Ministers.