The Philippine government on Monday imposed a total deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to South Sudan due to ongoing civil woes in its capital Khartoum and neighboring areas.

According to the Labor department, the announcement was due to the unstable peace and security situation as well as the escalating violence in South Sudan, which may threaten the safety of Filipinos workers in the North African region.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said decision was made after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) declared an alert level due to the escalation of violence.

In a resolution, the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chaired by Secretary Bello, decided to “impose a total ban on the processing and deployment of all OFW bound for South Sudan, until further notice.”

An estimated 3,000 Filipinos were currently working or residing in Sudan.

Moreover, the resolution also noted the confirmation from the DFA that South Sudan is non-compliant on the review of Posts Certification pursuant to Section 3 of Republic Act (RA) 10022 due to the current unstable peace and order on the country.

RA 10022 provides that DFA should issue a certification specifying the countries compliance with any of the conditions on the deployment of Filipino workers.

According the DFA, it raised the alert in South Sudan to level 4 from alert level 2 due to the upsurge in violence that erupted between the forces allied with President Salva Kiir and the Protection Unit from the SPLA in Operation of Vice President Riek Machar.

Alert level 4 provides for mandatory repatriation of Filipino workers in the affected area.