Last orders: South Sudan's only brewery to shut as civil war causes forex shortage

South Sudan^[1]’s only brewery is to cease production after six years, the latest casualty of a civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people, sparked fears of famine^[2] and brought the world’s youngest country to the brink of economic ruin^[3].

The multinational drinks firm SABMiller said the acute shortage of access to foreign exchange meant that its business, South Sudan Beverages Limited (SSBL), had been unable to buy raw materials. A SABMiller spokesman said the company had taken “the difficult decision” to start winding down operations in the capital, Juba, when existing supplies of ingredients run out.^[4]

“Based on existing stock levels, the last brew is expected to be bottled and leave the brewery in March,” he said.

“Unless and until the situation significantly improves, it is likely that SSBL’s brewing and bottling operations will be mothballed and the site will be run as a depot for the distribution of imported beverages from neighbouring Uganda.”

The spokesman said that the move would affect not only the vast majority of the company’s 237 employees but also the thousands of indviduals and businesses who depended on its products for their livelihoods.

He added: “We are monitoring the situation intensively and our priority is to work with affected employees to help them as far as possible, but we regret to say that this appears the most likely outcome in the current circumstances.”

Speaking to the Guardian in August last year^[5], Carlos Gomes, SSBL’s managing director, said that laying off workers was “the absolute, absolute, absolute, absolute last resort”, adding: “The effects of that are too ghastly to contemplate.”

SSBL’s locally made beers – such as Nile Special and White Bull – have proved popular and have even become a symbol of the pride that fuelled South Sudan’s secession from its northern neighbour^[6] in 2011.

But the company has been unable to weather the economic effects of the civil war, which have seen vital oil revenues slump and South Sudanese pound devalued by more than 80%.

Last week, an official said that patients, including premature babies, have died in South Sudan’s main public hospital because it could not afford the fuel to run its generators. ^[7]

The civil war – which broke out in December 2013 after the president, Salva Kiir, accused his former vice-president, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup^[8] – has split the country along broadly ethnic lines, pitting Kiir’s Dinka against Machar’s Nuer.

The conflict has left 1.6 million people internally displaced and forced 650,000 across borders as refugees. In October last year, two months after a peace deal was signed, three UN agencies warned there was a “concrete risk of famine” in some areas unless more assistance was provided and access given to aid agencies. ^[9]

In the same month, a long-awaited report from the African Union^[10] detailled the atrocities that have accompanied the conflict, from rape and murder to the mutilation of dead bodies, forced cannibalism and the existence of mass graves^[11].

References

1. ^{^} South Sudan (www.theguardian.com)
2. ^{^} fears of famine (www.theguardian.com)
3. ^{^} the brink of economic ruin (www.theguardian.com)
4. ^{^} SABMiller (www.theguardian.com)
5. ^{^} in August last year (www.theguardian.com)
6. ^{^} a symbol of the pride that fuelled South Sudan’s secession from its northern neighbour (www.theguardian.com)
7. ^{^} patients, including premature babies, have died in South Sudan’s main public hospital (bigstory.ap.org)
8. ^{^} Salva Kiir, accused his former vice-president, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup (www.theguardian.com)
9. ^{^} “concrete risk of famine” (www.theguardian.com)
10. ^{^} African Union (www.theguardian.com)
11. ^{^} rape and murder to the mutilation of dead bodies, forced cannibalism and the existence of mass graves (www.theguardian.com)