Uganda-South Sudan trade disrupted as border market floods again

October 30, 2013 (KAMPALA) – A strategic road that connects Uganda to South Sudan via northern Uganda has been cut off after a river near the border market of Olegu flooded.

”It is very bad for business. Traders have lost their cabbages, tomatoes and bananas”, local trader Martin Okoba told Sudan Tribune by phone on Wednesday.

“Yesterday [Tuesday] it rained heavily further flooding the area. The whole of Olegu is flooded with water. Even the latrines have flooded. Vehicles can no longer pass”, he said.

It is the fifth time this year that the border market has flooded, disrupting traffic along the busy Gulu-Nimule road.

“Even buses cannot pass. When they reach the flooded area they stop and passengers walk to the South Sudan side where another bus will be waiting. Those on the South Sudan side also stop and walk to the Ugandan side where another bus will be waiting”, Okoba said.

Patrick Okema, a spokesman for the Uganda police in northern Uganda, said floodwaters have left between 500-700 vehicles stranded along an 8km stretch on the Ugandan side of the border.

On Wednesday, a lorry belonging to a Chinese firm constructing the road from the Ugandan side overturned as it attempted to fill the flooded road with murram (gravel) to enable vehicles pass.

The Gulu-Nimule road, which is a key cross-border trade route between Uganda and South Sudan, is being constructed at a cost of $100 million, with funding from the Japan Technical Cooperation and the World Bank.

According to the World Bank, South Sudan has been a key trading partner with Uganda since 2007, with most of the goods exported to Uganda passing along the Gulu-Nimule road.

On Saturday, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, launched the opening of the Tororo-Gulu-Pakwach railway line which is expected to further boost trade between the two countries.

In September, a train travelled the rail route from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Gulu for the first time in 20 years, carrying a cargo of steel destined for the South Sudanese capital, Juba.

The 500km line has been renovated at a cost of $2 million by the rail operator, Rift Valley Railway (RVR).

Museveni has said there are plans to extend the railway line to South Sudan.

(ST)