Tension runs high along Kenya-Sudan border

Tension runs high along Kenya-Sudan border

www.chinaview.cn 2008-08-26 19:48:37 Print

NAIROBI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — Tension is running high along the Kenya-Sudan border town of Lokichoggio following a protest by Sudanese war veterans over a seven month delay in payment of their monthly compensation.

State owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation said on Tuesday that the protests have affected the movement of people and goods for the third day in a row along the busy frontier.

Lokichoggio district administrator Geoffrey Wafula said the blockade set up by the war veterans had paralyzed transport and movement of commuters along the Lokichoggio/Juba highway since last week.

Wafula said the war veterans who were involved in the decades-long armed conflict in the liberation struggle in southern Sudan had virtually taken over operations in the southern parts of the country to demand for their unpaid dues.

He confirmed that a high powered delegation from Sudan would meet on Wednesday with their Kenyan counterparts at Lokichoggio to iron out the matter.

Three months ago the same border was closed for two weeks after a Sudanese citizen was gunned down at the notorious Nadepal border point.