South Sudan major highways should be secured by all means

With tonnes of commodities being held inside 2000 trucks stranded at Elegu border, marketing prices are skyrocketing. If the trend transcends for more days, the situation on the ground could blow out of proportions.

The phenomenon was triggered by rampant insecurity along the Juba – Nimule and Juba – Yei Road. At least 15 truck drivers died after falling prey to two separate ambushes laid by so called unknown gunmen. Five of those were killed along Juba – Nimule Highway while the other ten were slain along Juba – Yei Road.

The two incidents prompted the Kenyan and Ugandan governments to issue travel alerts for all truck drivers plying the two risky routes. It has been nearly two weeks that trucks were not seen making headway to Juba since the issuance of the travel advisory.

South Sudanese feel the heat

A landlocked country, South Sudan imports nearly everything from toilet paper to match boxes. The country is known to be the main exporter of petroleum products.

But the absence of well-equipped refineries means the importation of such products from neighbouring countries as well. With no trucks coming in, market prices have risen and rare queues of motorists waiting to buy fuel emerged.

Government responds

Currently, the Juba administration is seized with a plethora of domestic complexities ranging from pressure to implement the revitalized peace agreement to settling financial arrears owed to Ezra, the company behind the Juba power plant threatening to shut down the project citing lack of commitment to financial obligations.

But the border crisis has equally compelled the government to act. The City Review was reliably informed on last week by a senior military official that the truck drivers will be escorted as a guarantee to their security and safety.

It is not a miscalculated move, except when the escort is only given to the truck drivers on their way out of the country, which, in this case, means the Kenyan and Ugandan governments should have similar arrangements for truck drivers coming into South Sudan from those neighbouring countries.  

Even when the South Sudanese government offers military escorts to the truckers fro and to the border, the sustainability and longevity of the arrangement remains a cause for concern.  

Besides, the decision to offer military escort to foreign truck drivers mirrors the dark days of 2016 – 2017 when insecurity in the country was at the peak and the Juba – Nimule route was impassable without military escort.

What the government should do

The Army Chief of Staff Gen. Johnson Juma Okot hinted on a strategy, which, if implemented, could serve as a better alternative.

Instead of unveiling unsustainable arrangements like offering military escorts, the deployment of troops to oversee the security landscape along the road is more convenient. But the army deployed should be monitored by their superiors to ensure that they do not turn to be perpetrators of atrocities against the people they supposed to protect.

At a memorial service of the late David Ongee, the Boma Chief of Ayii in Magwi County killed by a group of cattle keepers, the General Chief of Staff said there was a need to revamp the security along the Juba – Nimule Highway.

The route has been a hotspot for rogue elements, including robbers masquerading as government law enforcement agents. Their actions were thwarted when SSPDF members were deployed along the route from 2018 to 2019.

Johnson said the army would be withdrawn and redeployed based on the security atmosphere in the area. In a televised address on State Television recently, he said the forces are back.

By the time of writing, negotiations were ongoing between South Sudan and the governments of Uganda and Kenya for drivers to start rolling trucks to Juba.