Truck drivers halt traffic to South Sudan to protest killings of colleagues

By Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - Truck drivers stopped traffic to South Sudan in protest on Tuesday after the killings of long-distance drivers along the road from Uganda to South Sudan's capital of Juba.

Authorities in Uganda are discussing with their counterparts in South Sudan the killings after hundreds of drivers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo went on strike.

A total of 500 trucks are parked on the Ugandan side of the border.

“Our bosses and security officers are discussing with their counterparts in South Sudan about the security on the road from here to Juba. Several truck drivers have been killed by armed people in the past few days,” said Simon Leku, a Ugandan migration officer at the Legu border.

He said an idea being proposed by security officers is for the Ugandan and South Sudan armies to jointly escort trucks while moving in a convoy.

The strike was sparked by the shooting of two Kenyan drivers to death on Sunday. Haron Abdulahi Ore and Issa Salad were transporting merchandise to Juba in South Sudan.

Prior to the shooting, at least seven Ugandan drivers were killed in the last month.

Sudi Mwatela, the chairman of the long-distance truck drivers association, said the Kenyan drivers were killed in Nesitu, 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the border.

He said 15 other drivers of different nationalities are also feared to be kidnapped by suspected South Sudanese gunmen.