Parliament demands travel advisory over South Sudan killings

By Our Reporters

Parliament yesterday asked government to consider issuing a travel advisory to Ugandans  intending to travel to South Sudan following the killing of nine Ugandan drivers. 

This would guarantee the safety of Ugandans considering to travel to South Sudan so that they can make  informed  decisions about their journeys, according to lawmakers.

“See whether it is necessary to issue a travel advisory to Ugandans because things [the shootings] have taken place within four days so that Ugandans know whether to travel to these places,” the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, said.

Ms Kadaga was responding to the minister of State for Internal Affairs, Mr  Mario Obiga Kania’s, submission on the killings.Mr Obiga said the matter was being investigated by the Foreign Affairs ministry and they would issue a communication after reconciling with their embassy in South Sudan.

He said more eight people who had gone fishing were recently killed in South Sudan bordering Moyo District.

 “It is true that Ugandan drivers were killed from Friday to Sunday. The number is not yet clear because some people were injured. It’s possible they could have died. There are armed groups in those areas who are apparently Opposition forces to South Sudan. They are in control of those areas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware. Our embassy in South Sudan is handling the issue. When done, they will inform the country,” Mr Obiga Kania said.

Koboko Woman MP Margaret Baba Diri had earlier raised the matter in Parliament that 11 of her people had been killed on the Juba-Yei road and government has been silent as families mourn their loved ones.

She demanded security for those entering and leaving South Sudan.

“The [South] Sudanese are here peacefully. We don’t kill them. We are keeping them in refugee camps and our communities. Our people are being killed in their country. This issue is very painful,” Ms Baba Diri said yesterday.

She added: “These 11 people left widows and children. Government should compensate them.”

Ms Kadaga also tasked the Finance minister to explain the killings allegedly being committed by Uganda Revenue Authority enforcement officers at the Congo border. 

The Ugandan drivers now have to drive for about 52 hours for a distance of 3,613 Kms from Elegu to Juba while the distance between Oraba to Juba is 230km by road.

Those confirmed dead include Stephen Amati, Dada Abugo, Ali Sonny and Sadam Noah.

 The security team from Uganda and South Sudan are yet to identify the bodies of  victims in Monday attacks.

 Before the outbreak of the civil war in South Sudan, more than 100 trucks and buses from Uganda could drive through the border of Oraba via Kaya to Juba in South Sudan. But the route has been abandoned with a shift to Elegu to Nimule-Juba highway. 

On Tuesday, a Ugandan delegation led by the Mayor of Koboko, Mr Wilson Sanya, travelled to Nimule to receive the bodies of the Ugandan drivers.

 “We have just crossed the ferry heading to Elegu border to receive the bodies of our sons who were killed on Sunday afternoon. We have coordinated with our colleagues the Kakwa community in Juba to bring them back,” he said.

The chairperson of Drivers Association, Mr Ratib Muki, said there was need to quickly resolve the conflicts in South Sudan in order to allow them carry on with cross-border business. 

South Sudan says Meanwhile, the South Sudan government has directed all businessmen plying the Oraba-Kaya-Yei-Juba route to use other alternative routes for safety.

“People are travelling for business should use the Nimule route and not the Oraba –Kaya-Yei-Juba route because it is not safe,” the Commissioner for Lanya County in Yei River State, Mr Morris Kenyi, told Daily Monitor.

The South Sudan government says the Oraba-Kaya-Yei-Juba route is infiltrated by rebel groups and armed pastoralists who carry out attacks on businessmen.

He said they have secured the bodies to be handed over to the families. They suspect the attacks might have been carried out by the National Salvation Front (NAS) led by Gen Thomas Cirilo, the commander-in-chief or some pastoralists but investigations continue. NAS is a South Sudan rebel militant group.

Some passengers were also robbed at Mugo between Kaya and Yei towns yesterday morning.

 By Patience Ahimbisibwe, Felix Warom Okello & Rashul Adidi