By Amaca Goli
in Nimule

MUTINYING Sudanese soldiers in Nimule have opened the Ugandan border after their leaders were addressed by President Salva Kiir of Southern Sudan.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers opened the border at 8:00am yesterday, allowing over 300 trucks trapped in Sudan since Thursday to cross into Uganda. But traders aboard 200 vehicles inside Uganda were still too scared to cross into Sudan.

Kiir visited Yei on Saturday and met the disabled soldiers. He ordered the SPLA command to pay the war victims the accumulated seven-month salaries across the country.

The veterans were immediately paid two-month salaries and given sacks of grain to keep them waiting for the remaining balance.
Kiir said the central government in Khartoum delayed to transfer the salaries.

The situation was compounded by the fall in the international crude oil price, cutting the country’s 50% share from Khartoum.

Kiir urged the mutineers not to take the law into their hands and asked them to respect foreigners, who he said were helping Southern Sudan to develop.

An insider said the soldiers opened the border on condition that the balance would be paid within one week.

Lt. Col. Majier Abdallah, the Southern Sudan liaison officer in Kampala, said: “The issue was resolved. Issues about the veterans will now be under the president’s office.”

He dismissed reports of soldiers harassing civilians. The war veterans rioted on Wednesday morning in Nimule, Yei, Kaya and Moyo, paralysing business there. Other border points affected by the mutineers included Kajo-Keji, which links Oraba and Moyo in Uganda to Sudan.

The heavily armed soldiers blocked vehicles from and to Sudan and detained several foreign truck drivers and traders.

The traders said the soldiers denied them food and water. They added that the soldiers demanded reparation from Uganda, saying their colleagues participated in the hunt for LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony.

The traders, who spent three days at the Bibia border, also accused the SPLA of torture. In Nimule, some traders abandoned their trucks, accusing the soldiers of chasing them away from boreholes, where they had gone to collect water.

“They didn’t want us to seek shelter from the sun even under our own vehicles,” a driver said, adding that they had to hide to use their mobile phones.

Another driver said there were no toilet facilities in the border area.
In Nimule, a few armed soldiers loitered around the dusty streets, most of them having retreated to their barracks.

A security source said no bullet was fired during the unrest, dispelling rumours that a Ugandan truck driver had been shot dead.

By press time, the situation at the border was still tense with a few shops and restaurants re-opened.