Juba International Airport has been effectively shut for repairs, bringing weekend air traffic into the South Sudan capital to a halt, said a report.

No aircraft movements, including medical emergency evacuation flights, will be permitted on Saturday and Sunday until at least April of next year, said a report in eTurboNews.

The recent airport closure has seen tourism, once a fast-growing industry in South Sudan, come to a complete standstill, leaving the extraordinarily large herds of plains game to poaching gangs as there is no more income from wildlife-based tourism and no funds to pay game rangers.

Furthermore, the value of the local currency has all but crashed in the absence of significant foreign exchange earnings as oil production and exports have also significantly reduced as a result of shifting battle fronts, the report said.