Juba - Aid-dependent, war-torn South Sudan has passed a law forcing aid agencies to ensure no more than a fifth of their staffs are foreigners, the president's spokesman said Wednesday.
After 17 months of war, over half of the country's 12 million people are in need of aid, with 2.5 million people facing severe food insecurity, according to the UN.
The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Bill was passed by parliament but must still be signed by President Salva Kiir.
"The NGO bill was passed and it is with the committee, and after that it will come to the president," Ateny Wek Ateny, spokesman in the president's office, told AFP Wednesday.
"The NGO bill is to regulate the NGOs, international and local."
South Sudan suffers from a major shortage of skilled workers, with only around a quarter of the population being able to read and write.
South Sudan's NGO Forum, an umbrella body of aid agencies, warned the bill could "hinder their ability to serve South Sudanese people at a time when needs are escalating due to the ongoing conflict."
The past month has seen one of the heaviest government offensives in the war, with gunmen raping girls, torching towns and looting aid supplies.
AFP
