Ugandan motorcyclist beaten in Rumbek

By Manyang Mayom

February 17, 2010 (RUMBEK) – A Ugandan motorcyclist man who worked in Lakes state was tortured by robbers in Rumbek on Thursday at Abei-Ajok area on the road to Wulu county which is located southward of the state capital Rumbek. The two men hired the so-called Voda-voda man to take them to some purported destination and then halted the motorcyle within a few kilometers and started beating him with a stick.

A Ugandan named Charles Ntambara told Sudan Tribune that his countryman was found half alive on the ground by villagers. The villagers brought him to Rumbek police station. Reportedly police managed to capture one suspect while the other one is still not captured.

Ntambara, said that, “man was beaten Thursday evening, before reaching to site, his was order to stop the motorcycle and they robbery started beaten him – they left him laying on ground and community people around the area assistant the victim and they brought him to Rumbek police station. The culprit was reported to us by police that one is capture and one did not been brought to book”.

The beaten man is Jeffu Ling Kakaya. He was hurt in the upper lip as well as badly in some other parts of the body, said Mr. Ntambara. “This boy has been working first in Rumbek to fetch water and he left that job and shifted to voda-voda work which caused to him this dangerous atmosphere”.

Charles Ntambara complained that Ugandan traders face high taxation from the state authority and are often threatened with deportation. “I pay around 100 pounds just only for immigration paper and continually officials from the department of immigration are charging us on daily trips within Sudan such as going to Wau, you must to paid 10 pounds on each roadblock on your going and return — this is too much now to stay in Sudan”.

He said “I have been paying 100 pounds as official fees during my entering to Sudan but now it has changed now, I don’t know whether it is general policy or what — we are paying ten pounds in any journey to Wau and so on”.

There are some 8,000 Ugandan workers here in Rumbek, according to Ntambara.

Ntambara also called upon local government to provide enough security in Lakes state saying the “government of Lakes state should put enough security to secure foreigners — if there is no enough security, then investment will collapse in Lakes state and more investors will shy away from coming to Rumbek due to this insecurity”. He also added that education is poor in Lakes state and that is why more incidents are happening here and there in Rumbek: “those who are educated would not act unwisely but those pastoralists are those who are committing a lot of errors in this state”.

Alochi Jeff, a Ugandan DSTV technician working in Rumbek since 2007, said that his business is facing difficulties in terms of high taxes imposed by state government as well high road transport costs. “I purchase DSTV equipment from Uganda to Rumbek by road and if any damage occurs on road over this equipment, and then I have to reorder the new one instead of damaged one. The customers are serious to buy more DSTV in Rumbek and I always installed all those DSTV here in Rumbek. DSTV is directly connected to satellite space and many Sudanese in Rumbek could not manage to connect it well,” he said.

(ST)