A South African beer company announced that will build a new beverage plant in the capital of Southern Sudan, the first of its kind in 25 years since Islamic Shari’a law was imposed by the central government. SABMiller Africa said in a statement that the new brewer will be fully operational by February 2009 and that production of carbonated soft drinks will follow after that.The new brewery marks a tangible outcome of 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between North and South that allowed the latter to be exempt from application of Islamic law. “We will not only be consuming but producing alcohol. It is a serious political message of one country, two systems” the south’s agriculture minister Samson Kwaje told Reuters at the SABMiller Africa launch Tuesday. Kwaje said he did not think the introduction of a new beer in South Sudan would aggravate already tense relations between Khartoum and the south’s capital Juba.
The beer company said that the $37 million investment “will create employment for hundreds of Sudanese locals once manufacturing commences and has already employed a large amount of skilled labor in the construction of the plant”. Furthermore SABMiller Africa said they will pay royalties to the Juba community for leasing the land as well letting them benefit “through access to clean, safe water from the Nile, which is the main water source for manufacture by the business”.
“We are committed to delivering high quality and affordable products while delivering consistent growth in a country like Southern Sudan, which has immense potential” says Mark Bowman, Managing Director SABMiller Africa.
South Sudan was flooded with crates of expensive imported beer after the 2005 peace deal, most of it from Uganda. Even before the accord, consumption of alcohol continued in rural areas of the rebel-held south but this was mostly locally brewed sorghum beer.