In the midnight of February first this year, South Sudan will change its time zone from East Africa Time (EAT)  to Central Africa Time (CAT). Its neighbor, Sudan, currently use CAT. The shift in time zone will make South Sudan two hours ahead of Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). But right now, the country is three hours ahead of UTC.

South Sudan has no yearly Daylight Saving Time (DST). However, the time zone change will help the country realign its official time with Sudan, which changed its clock to CAT in 2017. Besides Sudan, Chad and Egypt are also the neighboring countries that observe Central Africa Time. South Sudan is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It gained its total independence in 2011.

Michael Makuei, the government spokesperson, said in the cabinet meeting that the current time zone, which is EAT, is not the country’s actual zone. South Sudan is in longitude 30, in which the difference between the Greenwich time of the UTC and the longitude is one hour every 15 minutes. He added that they are supposed to be two hours ahead of the Greenwich Time zone.

“After the thorough presentation, it was clear that the far east is 2.4 hours and the far west is 1.6 hours. If you combine, it will be 4 hours. The average is 2 hours. Therefore, it is passed by the cabinet that our official time zone should be 2 hours from the Greenwich meantime, and that is from the 1st of February 2021,” Makuei explained.