Over 500 Kenyan drivers stranded on the Uganda- South Sudan border are calling on the government to assist them as they continued to suffer.          With parts of South Sudan continuing to experience gun fight, the truck drivers noted that the government was concentrating on rescuing Kenyans in Juba only. They said that many were stranded on the Sudan side with their trucks and cargo and could not be allowed to pass through.

Those on the Uganda side told of their suffering saying that they had been stuck on the border for 24 days with cargo worth millions of shillings. According to one of the drivers identified as Jose Lotioni, he was headed to Juba from the port of Mombasa when the war broke out.

He said that he had just arrived at Elegu town on the Uganda side when the war broke out in South Sudan. “We were heading to Juba with cargo worth millions of shillings and since the war started we have been stranded here with no one to address our case,” he said. Lotioni termed life at the border point as very hard, expensive and unfriendly as locals took advantage of the prevailing situation to hike goods.

He said that they were in confusion as whether to leave behind the trucks or drive them back noting that there was rising hostility from the locals. “We cannot leave our trucks behind, it’s very hot and we are asking for the government intervention to end our suffering,” he said on phone.

Another driver Adams Wafula who is in Nimule town on the Sudan side said that they could not pass to Uganda as they had not been cleared.

Wafula who left Juba a day before the clashes started termed life as very hard adding that at the no-man lands there were over 400 women and 300 stranded children. “So much attention has been focused on major towns in South Sudan but many people are suffering at the border points,” he said. The driver who had just delivered industrial machinery to Juba said that the border towns did not have clean water and expressed fears of a disease outbreak.

Already the government has rescued over 3,000 Kenyans from the country while another 7,000 have vowed to remain behind and protect their properties. The war that has left over 1,000 people dead has seen four Kenyans killed as the warring parties agreed to meet and resolve the impasse.

Source-standardmedia.co.ke