Re: [tz] South Sudan to change time zone?
On Tue, 19 Jan 2021 at 19:04, Paul Eggert <eggert at cs.ucla.edu> wrote:
This article says the change will take place at "midnight, February 1":
http://southsudan24news.com/south-sudan-change-its-time-zone-in-february-1-2...
The version I now see says, "The change will occur at 00:00 (midnight) on February 1, when clocks will be set back 1 hour to 23:00 (11:00 pm)." This is a bit confusing, because if the change is indeed at 00:00 on February 1, the quoted text should have ended in "23:00 (11:00 pm) the previous day" to avoid confusion.
Perhaps the official announcement (if one is made and someone can .provide it) will be less confusing.
The official announcement (accessible without a Facebook account at https://www.facebook.com/www.motps.goss.org/videos/3770463003014509/ concurs with this: 08:23 'So, from the 1st of February, we are going back to our actual Greenwich Mean Time. We are going back to our local zone, of 2 hours' difference between Greenwich Mean Time, which is the zero hour, and our local time which will be 2 hours, which will be Greenwich Mean Time plus 2 hours' 09:43 'On the 31st, and the morning starts, that morning will not start at 12, but when it is 12 midnight of the 31st of January, it will be 11 o'clock. And you continue like that... Our 12 midnight of the 31st January will repeat itself; it will be 11, and then you go again for 12 midnight. That is when it becomes according to our time now.' We're based in South Sudan so was keen to get this right. Hope it helps. Kind regards, -- Chris Hill IT Officer Mission Aviation Fellowship International T +44 (0)1233 895517 F +44 (0)1233 895570 Operations Centre, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24 8DH Mission Aviation Fellowship International. A company Limited by guarantee, registered in England & Wales Registered Charity Number: 1058226. Registered Company Number: 3144199. Registered Office: Operations Centre, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24 8DH https://www.mafint.org/ "NOTICE: Any opinions expressed in this message are those of the individual and not necessarily the company. This email (and any attachment) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not use, disclose, forward, copy, print or retain this email. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender before deleting it from your computer system. Email transmissions may not be completely secure, may be intercepted or corrupted and may arrive late or not at all. The sender accepts no liability for viruses and we recommend that you scan all emails for viruses before opening them. For more information please contact dataprotection@mafint.org<mailto:dataprotection@mafint.org>. To view our Privacy Notice click Here<https://www.mafint.org/privacy-notice.html>. To view our Terms and Conditions click Here<https://www.mafint.org/terms-and-conditions.html>."
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 at 10:17, Chris Hill <Chris.Hill@mafint.org> wrote:
The official announcement (accessible without a Facebook account at https://www.facebook.com/www.motps.goss.org/videos/3770463003014509/ concurs with this:
08:23 'So, from the 1st of February, we are going back to our actual Greenwich Mean Time. We are going back to our local zone, of 2 hours' difference between Greenwich Mean Time, which is the zero hour, and our local time which will be 2 hours, which will be Greenwich Mean Time plus 2 hours'
09:43 'On the 31st, and the morning starts, that morning will not start at 12, but when it is 12 midnight of the 31st of January, it will be 11 o'clock. And you continue like that... Our 12 midnight of the 31st January will repeat itself; it will be 11, and then you go again for 12 midnight. That is when it becomes according to our time now.'
Thanks, Chris. I saw yesterday that that video had been posted but hadn't yet gotten a chance to pull the bits that caught my attention into an email. Your transcriptions here, particularly "On the 31st, and the morning [it] starts", match my understanding as well, and appear to mean the recent patch from Paul (dated Tue Jan 19 13:17:42 2021 -0800) is in line with the intent, that the transition will be from 2021-01-31 24:00 +03 to 23:00 +02. However, it seems in recent days that at least some are calling for a less rushed approach: https://eyeradio.org/south-sudan-told-not-rush-change-of-time-zone/ A South Sudan’s horologist is calling on the government to create more
awareness first before changing the country’s time zone.
“In many countries, that is how things ought to be done,” Alex Lubajo said, adding that “to be informed within a month that ‘next month we are going to change the time zone,’ people are asking why?”
Mr. Lubajo is an expert in horology – the art or science of measuring time. … “Looking at the Geography perspective, I don’t have opposition to the idea but…people have to be educated first so that…they really understand,” he advised.
Here are a few other quotes from the 2021-01-19 press conference on getting radio, TV, and newspapers to communicate the change on short notice: [15:52] "This is very important, and this is the message I want you to carry to our people so that they understand it. We have today — today is the 19th — and we are left with only 11 days so that we change this time. And before we change it, we need to make it very clear to our people. We need to make them understand it." [17:31] "This is very important, because changing of the timing is not that easy. It is just like changing the direction of the traffic on the road. So, if we explain this very well, we'll definitely have a very clear transit from our three hours back to our two hours." And on dark mornings being a motivating factor for the change: [11:28] "This is so important, because our workers — even the cleaners — when they leave…from…their houses — come into the offices to come and clean the offices, they come at a time when it is very dark." [20:42] "But for us, as government employees, as public servants, we are under duty to report in time. And this issue of timing, of a difference of three hours, had been actually an inconvenience and an excuse for the employees to delay and report late. And most of them have actually been reporting late. And this is very clear, if you might have been passing through the offices in the morning, you will see — you will find that at about 9, you will see the sweepers are still sweeping the offices. And this is what delays them. So we decided to adjust so that they come in time…" -- Tim Parenti
On 2021-01-22 11:25, Tim Parenti wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 at 10:17, Chris Hill <Chris.Hill@mafint.org <mailto:Chris.Hill@mafint.org>> wrote:
The official announcement (accessible without a Facebook account at https://www.facebook.com/www.motps.goss.org/videos/3770463003014509/ <https://www.facebook.com/www.motps.goss.org/videos/3770463003014509/> concurs with this:
08:23 'So, from the 1st of February, we are going back to our actual Greenwich Mean Time. We are going back to our local zone, of 2 hours' difference between Greenwich Mean Time, which is the zero hour, and our local time which will be 2 hours, which will be Greenwich Mean Time plus 2 hours'
09:43 'On the 31st, and the morning starts, that morning will not start at 12, but when it is 12 midnight of the 31st of January, it will be 11 o'clock. And you continue like that... Our 12 midnight of the 31st January will repeat itself; it will be 11, and then you go again for 12 midnight. That is when it becomes according to our time now.'
Thanks, Chris. I saw yesterday that that video had been posted but hadn't yet gotten a chance to pull the bits that caught my attention into an email. Your transcriptions here, particularly "On the 31st, and the morning [it] starts", match my understanding as well, and appear to mean the recent patch from Paul (dated Tue Jan 19 13:17:42 2021 -0800) is in line with the intent, that the transition will be from 2021-01-31 24:00 +03 to 23:00 +02.
However, it seems in recent days that at least some are calling for a less rushed approach: https://eyeradio.org/south-sudan-told-not-rush-change-of-time-zone/ <https://eyeradio.org/south-sudan-told-not-rush-change-of-time-zone/>
A South Sudan’s horologist is calling on the government to create more awareness first before changing the country’s time zone.
“In many countries, that is how things ought to be done,” Alex Lubajo said, adding that “to be informed within a month that ‘next month we are going to change the time zone,’ people are asking why?”
Mr. Lubajo is an expert in horology – the art or science of measuring time. … “Looking at the Geography perspective, I don’t have opposition to the idea but…people have to be educated first so that…they really understand,” he advised.
Here are a few other quotes from the 2021-01-19 press conference on getting radio, TV, and newspapers to communicate the change on short notice:
[15:52] "This is very important, and this is the message I want you to carry to our people so that they understand it. We have today — today is the 19th — and we are left with only 11 days so that we change this time. And before we change it, we need to make it very clear to our people. We need to make them understand it."
[17:31] "This is very important, because changing of the timing is not that easy. It is just like changing the direction of the traffic on the road. So, if we explain this very well, we'll definitely have a very clear transit from our three hours back to our two hours."
And on dark mornings being a motivating factor for the change:
[11:28] "This is so important, because our workers — even the cleaners — when they leave…from…their houses — come into the offices to come and clean the offices, they come at a time when it is very dark."
[20:42] "But for us, as government employees, as public servants, we are under duty to report in time. And this issue of timing, of a difference of three hours, had been actually an inconvenience and an excuse for the employees to delay and report late. And most of them have actually been reporting late. And this is very clear, if you might have been passing through the offices in the morning, you will see — you will find that at about 9, you will see the sweepers are still sweeping the offices. And this is what delays them. So we decided to adjust so that they come in time…"
Horologist mainly specifies one who repairs, or sometimes designs or builds, watches and clocks. The Minister said in another article a week ago that the country has the right to change its legal time when it wants, and everyone, including the airlines, must comply. -- Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada This email may be disturbing to some readers as it contains too much technical detail. Reader discretion is advised. [Data in binary units and prefixes, physical quantities in SI.]
Brian Inglis said:
The Minister said in another article a week ago that the country has the right to change its legal time when it wants,
Tue, though not necessary sensible.
and everyone, including the airlines, must comply.
I suspect that, given the choice between sticking to the old time zone for takeoff times or annoying Eurocontrol by missing their slots, airlines will take the first option. -- Clive D.W. Feather | If you lie to the compiler, Email: clive@davros.org | it will get its revenge. Web: http://www.davros.org | - Henry Spencer Mobile: +44 7973 377646
From: Tim Parenti <tim@timtimeonline.com> Sent: 22 January 2021 18:25 To: Chris Hill <Chris.Hill@mafint.org> Cc: tz@iana.org <tz@iana.org> Subject: Re: [tz] South Sudan to change time zone?
On Fri, 22 Jan 2021 at 10:17, Chris Hill <Chris.Hill@mafint.org> wrote: The official announcement (accessible without a Facebook account at https://www.facebook.com/www.motps.goss.org/videos/3770463003014509/ concurs with this:
08:23 'So, from the 1st of February, we are going back to our actual Greenwich Mean Time. We are going back to our local zone, of 2 hours' difference between Greenwich Mean Time, which is > the zero hour, and our local time which will be 2 hours, which will be Greenwich Mean Time plus 2 hours'
09:43 'On the 31st, and the morning starts, that morning will not start at 12, but when it is 12 midnight of the 31st of January, it will be 11 o'clock. And you continue like that... Our 12 midnight > of the 31st January will repeat itself; it will be 11, and then you go again for 12 midnight. That is when it becomes according to our time now.'
Thanks, Chris. I saw yesterday that that video had been posted but hadn't yet gotten a chance to pull the bits that caught my attention into an email. Your transcriptions here, particularly "On > the 31st, and the morning [it] starts", match my understanding as well, and appear to mean the recent patch from Paul (dated Tue Jan 19 13:17:42 2021 -0800) is in line with the intent, that the > transition will be from 2021-01-31 24:00 +03 to 23:00 +02.
Thanks Tim. One of the things that confused us initially was the following reported statement: https://eyeradio.org/south-sudan-adopts-new-time-zone-makuei/ 'After the change, South Sudan will observe the same local time as Egypt and Chad and neighboring Sudan.' We're trying to find a timezone to set our devices to that reflects the new reality until operating systems get updated. However it appears that while Egypt and Sudan will share the UTC+02:00 timezone with South Sudan, Chad is actually on West Africa Time, which is UTC+01:00. I think we're going to set it to Central Africa Time (Africa/Khartoum) but the mention of Chad threw me and I needed to check the original source to be certain. Is this what you would recommend? -- Chris Hill IT Officer Mission Aviation Fellowship International T +44 (0)1233 895517 F +44 (0)1233 895570 Operations Centre, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24 8DH Mission Aviation Fellowship International. A company Limited by guarantee, registered in England & Wales Registered Charity Number: 1058226. Registered Company Number: 3144199. Registered Office: Operations Centre, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24 8DH https://www.mafint.org/ "NOTICE: Any opinions expressed in this message are those of the individual and not necessarily the company. This email (and any attachment) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not use, disclose, forward, copy, print or retain this email. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender before deleting it from your computer system. Email transmissions may not be completely secure, may be intercepted or corrupted and may arrive late or not at all. The sender accepts no liability for viruses and we recommend that you scan all emails for viruses before opening them. For more information please contact dataprotection@mafint.org<mailto:dataprotection@mafint.org>. To view our Privacy Notice click Here<https://www.mafint.org/privacy-notice.html>. To view our Terms and Conditions click Here<https://www.mafint.org/terms-and-conditions.html>."
On Sat, 23 Jan 2021 at 07:55, Chris Hill <Chris.Hill@mafint.org> wrote:
I think we're going to set it to Central Africa Time (Africa/Khartoum) but the mention of Chad threw me and I needed to check the original source to be certain.
Is this what you would recommend?
Yes, that would be a fine workaround, beginning 2021-01-31 24:00 +03, until your systems are able to update to 2021a, and is probably the simplest to communicate. Keep in mind that, since there is currently a one-hour difference, depending on what you're doing with the timestamps, any timestamps from before the change may begin to appear one hour off once you make this switch on your devices (since they could retroactively be interpreted as Khartoum time), until you're able to get a 2021a version of Africa/Juba installed and applied. It seems that that article's mention of Chad was likely in error. The eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which adjoins South Sudan, is also on +2, though. -- Tim Parenti
On 2021-01-22 19:25, Tim Parenti wrote:
Thanks, Chris. I saw yesterday that that video had been posted but hadn't yet gotten a chance to pull the bits that caught my attention into an email. Your transcriptions here, particularly "On the 31st, and the morning [it] starts", match my understanding as well, and appear to mean the recent patch from Paul (dated Tue Jan 19 13:17:42 2021 -0800) is in line with the intent, that the transition will be from 2021-01-31 24:00 +03 to 23:00 +02.
However, it seems in recent days that at least some are calling for a less rushed approach: https://eyeradio.org/south-sudan-told-not-rush-change-of-time-zone/ <https://eyeradio.org/south-sudan-told-not-rush-change-of-time-zone/>
A South Sudan’s horologist is calling on the government to create more awareness first before changing the country’s time zone.
“In many countries, that is how things ought to be done,” Alex Lubajo said, adding that “to be informed within a month that ‘next month we are going to change the time zone,’ people are asking why?”
It seems to be fully official now according to multiple sources, where at least one is specific about the transition time: http://southsudan24news.com/south-sudan-change-its-time-zone-in-february-1-2... "The change will occur at 00:00 (midnight) on February 1, when clocks will be set back 1 hour to 23:00 (11:00 pm)." and https://www.sudanspost.com/s-sudan-to-share-time-zone-with-sudan-egypt/ https://kampalapost.com/content/south-sudan-changes-official-time-zone Best regards, Steffen Thorsen - timeanddate.com
On 1/29/21 2:34 AM, Steffen Thorsen wrote:
http://southsudan24news.com/south-sudan-change-its-time-zone-in-february-1-2...
"The change will occur at 00:00 (midnight) on February 1, when clocks will be set back 1 hour to 23:00 (11:00 pm)."
and
https://www.sudanspost.com/s-sudan-to-share-time-zone-with-sudan-egypt/
https://kampalapost.com/content/south-sudan-changes-official-time-zone
Unfortunately, the third URL contradicts the first one, by reporting that a government official said that the transition will occur at 01:00 (switching to 00:00) rather than 00:00 (switching to 23:00 the previous day). This is the first I've seen of such an assertion, and as it contradicts our other sources I'm somewhat inclined to discount it. But here is the quote: ----- South Sudan’s undersecretary in the ministry of labour Mary Hillary Wan Pitia, Thursday officially communicated, “South Sudan has changed its official time from UTC +3 to UTC +2; which is based on South Sudan’s real location on the globe.” The undersecretary added, “This means that the current time is set back by one hour. The current 1:00 am will be set back to 00:00 am, from February 1, 2021.
On 2021-01-29 15:28, Paul Eggert wrote:
On 1/29/21 2:34 AM, Steffen Thorsen wrote:
http://southsudan24news.com/south-sudan-change-its-time-zone-in-february-1-2... "The change will occur at 00:00 (midnight) on February 1, when clocks will be set back 1 hour to 23:00 (11:00 pm)." and https://www.sudanspost.com/s-sudan-to-share-time-zone-with-sudan-egypt/ https://kampalapost.com/content/south-sudan-changes-official-time-zone
Unfortunately, the third URL contradicts the first one, by reporting that a government official said that the transition will occur at 01:00 (switching to 00:00) rather than 00:00 (switching to 23:00 the previous day). This is the first I've seen of such an assertion, and as it contradicts our other sources I'm somewhat inclined to discount it. But here is the quote: South Sudan’s undersecretary in the ministry of labour Mary Hillary Wan Pitia, Thursday officially communicated, “South Sudan has changed its official time from UTC +3 to UTC +2; which is based on South Sudan’s real location on the globe.” The undersecretary added, “This means that the current time is set back by one hour. The current 1:00 am will be set back to 00:00 am, from February 1, 2021.
Undersecretary in the Ministry of Labour *NOT* Ministry of ICT & Postal Services, so there may be a loss in accuracy, comprehension, and understanding, and there appears to be no obvious site for official communication of recent or relevant information other than <https://www.facebook.com/pg/Ministry-of-Labour-Public-Service-GoSS-403667863...> -- Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada This email may be disturbing to some readers as it contains too much technical detail. Reader discretion is advised. [Data in binary units and prefixes, physical quantities in SI.]
participants (6)
-
Brian Inglis -
Chris Hill -
Clive D.W. Feather -
Paul Eggert -
Steffen Thorsen -
Tim Parenti