May 2nd 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – Soldiers belonging to the SPLA faction of the South Sudan government have stopped Ugandan road surveyors and halted the road survey in Agoro Sub-county of Lamwo District in northern Uganda near border with South Sudan, the Uganda’s Daily Monitor reported.
Pamp Bless Company, which has been contracted by the Ugandan government to undertake a survey of the 21-Kilometers road from the Agoro to Apiriti market at the South Sudan border, sent engineers for the process but were confronted by South Sudan SPLA soldiers last week. The Daily Monitor reported, as it quoted local officials pointing out that the local officials who spoke to the Monitor said the South Sudanese soldiers accused them of crossing into South Sudan territory.
Officials in the Lambo District in Uganda proposed to construct the road to ease trade between residents of Agoro and those of Torit State of South Sudan under an initiative known as The Project for the Restoration of Livelihoods in Northern Uganda.
Chairperson of the Agoro LC3, Mr Denis Onyon, told Uganda’s Daily Monitor that more than 60 SPLA soldiers armed with their guns under command of a clan chief of Tseretenya in South Sudan’s Geria County asked the surveyors to suspend and stop their activities.
“The soldiers were very many and armed, they violently confronted our Ugandan team with accusation that they have crossed to their territory,” he said.
Mr Denis added that they are in need of the government intervention regarding the matter since it is a cross-border issue.
The Lambo Resident District Commissioner Jonathan Rutabingwa said they have informed relevant authorities both in Uganda and South Sudan over the matter.
District chairperson, John Ogwo said the dispute was bound to delay the road project which benefit citizens of both countries.
“The teams were on survey to get proper road design and costing, now that the exercise has been halted, we are not sure when these designs and cash for the roadworks will be available to the district,” he said.
