South Sudan’s custom service has ordered the removal of all illegal checkpoints along the Nimule-Juba-Bahr el Ghazal highway days after a request was made by East African truck drivers, according to the South Sudan director of customs service.
Last week, the truck drivers delivering goods to the country through the Nimule border point threatened to stop delivering goods to the country after rising in highway attacks in which several East African drivers from Uganda and Kenya were killed.
This comes after commercial truck drivers from the East African region staged a two-week protest that ended yesterday.
The truck drivers also urged the government to remove all the checkpoints from Nimule to Juba and to also be provided with security escort by forces under the regional bloc, the intergovernmental authority on development.
In response, the director of customs service Gen. Akol Ayii acknowledged the presence of illegal checkpoints and said his office has directed for removal of all illegal checkpoints from Nimule through Juba until Western Bahr el Ghazal state capital Wau.
Gen. Akol said, “We don’t want any roadblock from Nimule to Wau. From Nimule, you proceed directly to where you are going or where the goods are destined to,”
“If you are going to Wau, Bor town, Juba or any part of the country, you need to proceed without any disturbance. There is a team that has been set up to escort the trucks already. There is no checking of any truck on the road, we are not leaving any truck to go alone according to our resolution. Right now there is already a national security general in Nesitu to stay there,”