South Sudan: Transportation costs leading to high prices in Bentui

March 10, 2011 (BENTIU) – A merchant in Bentiu says the increase in the price of commodities at the local market is due to high transportation costs, which includes multiple road blocks on the Khartoum-South Sudan highway.

Musa, a merchant in Rubkotna town, said that business people are finding it difficult to transport their goods to the market. He added that some businesses import their goods from East Africa, which take longer to arrive. Musa noted that the intervention of government in the removal of some of the roadblocks from major highways would help reduce the high prices of goods on the local market.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Nyatour Kuong in Rubkotna market noted that the increase in the price of commodities on the local market has affected her business considerably. Kuong who runs a tea and coffee shop, said that the prices of all commodities have become high, due to a reduction in the amount of some goods coming from north Sudan.

Liah Mut a member of the Chamber of Commerce in Unity state denied there has been a sharp increase in the price of goods in the state.

The economy and prices of goods remain big challenges as the south approaches it separation from the north on July 9 when the south will achieve it independence.

Some traders from the north are under pressure to withdraw their business from the South, as they fear continued trading. When the south declares its independence in July 2011, this pressure is likely to increase.

During and after South Sudan’s self determination referendum in January many traders from the north, who owned businesses, fled. This has particularly affected Unity state, which receives a high proportion of its goods from Khartoum as it is situated on the South’s border with north Sudan.

In Rubkotna market many merchants have left their shops empty and headed north.

The pressure to leave is also felt in Khartoum by southern Sudanese who say they have felt increasingly unwelcome since the South voted for independence.

The independence vote was part of a peace deal that ended decades of civil war and saw over a million southerners displaced into northern Sudan. As independence approaches many have left their homes and work in the north to settle in South Sudan.

(ST)