By William Madouk
First Deputy Speaker of National Parliament is urging the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior to implement the Presidential Order to eliminate illegal checkpoints along the roads.
Rt. Oyet Nathaniel in his statement posted on his official Facebook page, criticized return of roadblocks along the Juba-Nimule highway linking South Sudan to Uganda at Elegu border point.
“For the past 48 hours, reports from the business community, particularly cargo drivers and owners of goods and services are stranded and others are stuck unable to pay and move,” he said.
Mr. Oyet cited that there are over 30 illegal checkpoints extorting money from businessmen and women.
“A Fuso driver arrived at Nimule from Juba after paying a total of SSP 1.9m with no single receipt to checkpoints,” he claimed.
He revealed that for swift action he visited Office of Chief of Defense Force and his deputy but to no avail, adding that “traders remain at the mercy of checkpoints.”
Oyet appealed to government to take immediate action to eliminate unwanted checkpoints.
“[I am] Calling upon the Ministries of Defense and Interior to implement the Presidential Orders to clear all illegal checkpoints along all roads,” he said.
Some states including Warrap, Eastern and Western Equatoria have embarked on the removal of illegal checkpoints as per resolutions of the eighth Governor’s Forum with Lakes State as the pioneer.
Recently, clashes broke out between South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army – in Opposition (SPLA-IO) during the elimination of illegal checkpoints in Western Bahr el Ghazal exposing crack.
The two army spokespersons from both sides gave conflicting accounts of what culminated in a series of attacks.
Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, SPLA-IO Spokesperson accused SSPDF of continuous violation – claiming that their position was attacked by SSPDF on Wednesday morning in WBGS.
In rebuttal, the SSPDF spokesperson, Maj-Gen Lul Ruai trashed the allegation that the army attacked SPLA-IO, citing that what ensued was the resistance from SPLA-IO forces during the elimination of checkpoint exercises.
“It wasn’t an attack on their position. You know, we were continuing with the dismantling of illegal road checkpoints along the road, all the way from Nagero up to Wau,” said Ruai.
“Along that road, they erected illegal checkpoints that each time we wanted to dismantle it, that’s when the resistance fired at us. So, it is the resistance that has started ago that is continuing,” he added.
On January 13, renewed fighting broke out over the weekend between the SSPDF and SPLA-IO in Nagero County, Western Equatoria State, resulting in multiple casualties and civilian property losses.