At least 14 buses carrying Kenyan and Ugandan citizens from the South Sudan capital Juba have
At least 14 buses carrying Kenyan and Ugandan citizens from the South Sudan capital Juba have arrived in Uganda.
The buses entered the entered at the Elegu-Nimule border point escorted by heavily armed South Sudanese soldiers from Juba.
Another 18 empty buses were allowed to enter South Sudan to evacuate more Ugandans and Kenyans trapped in the violence raging in the world youngest country.
Each bus carried an estimated 70 passengers.
Northern region Police spokesman, Patrick Okema told Daily Monitor that one of the buses, the Kenyan owned Simba Coach carried Kenyan and Sudanese nationals.
“Ugandans coming from South Sudan told us that one of the biggest challenges they faced was an acute food shortage to an extent that two people shared an egg. They told us that about four people shared a 500-millilitre bottle of water,” Mr Okema, who is at Elegu border, said.
FIGHTING IN JUBA
Juba is home to several foreign nationals from across the region and an estimated 200,000 Ugandans traders operate in Juba.
Traders, who arrived at the border, told police that they left their businesses without any protection.
Fighting in Juba between forces loyal to president Salva Kiir and his former Vice President Riek Machar, which started on Sunday, has paralysed business in the new state.
The survivors who were by the time of filing this report on their way home claim that some of their colleagues were shot dead but they couldn’t establish their identities.
Mr Okema said the South Sudanese forces allowed at least 25 trucks carrying food items from Uganda to travel to Juba through Nimule border to save people from dying of starvation.
However, 11 more trucks carrying foodstuffs were blocked from proceeding to Juba because there were not enough troops to escort them.
“They expect to travel to Juba tomorrow when enough troops arrive to escort them,” Mr Okema said.
South Sudan’s biggest food market, Konyo konyo, gets its supplies from Uganda, but it was closed since the fighting started.
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