JUBA, South Sudan (BNC) by Don Humphrey — Dennis Cady has been working in Bor, about 100 miles north of Juba, and has been affected by the violence.
The violence seems to be isolated to the capitol city of Juba and the main highway from Juba to Nimule, which is the border crossing into Uganda.
Tim Brumfield, who works with us, was in Pajok (where our work is centered) but when rumors started, he was able to leave through some of the back roads into Uganda.
The area where Dennis Cady’s work is centered was not affected. He determined, however, it was time to leave, but all of the flights were canceled. He was able to finally get a flight to Juba, but all of the commercial carriers had ceased their flights in and out. He holed up in a hotel in Juba, comfortable, he said, but with no way out of the country. He was finally able to get a reservation on a flight leaving on Wednesday (their time). Hopefully, he has made it to Nairobi by now.
Gratefully, the violence doesn’t seem to have spread outside Juba except for the main highway.
News reports state that on this highway, there are numerous checkpoints and payment has to be made to the police at these points.
One person reported having to pay a total of $175 before reaching the border and their luggage was searched for valuables constantly. Upon reaching the border, South Sudanese citizens were not being allowed to leave the country.
The economy is being affected very adversely. Dennis wrote that
government soldiers recently broke into the main warehouse of the World Food Program, a major humanitarian arm of the UN. They took all they could then the public took the rest. A total of 4500 tons of food stuffs (rice, beans, cooking oil, etc) designated for distribution over coming months in refugee camps and UN compounds where people are being sheltered. Food prices, wholesale and retail change daily, too fast for anyone to calculate the inflation rate.
We need to keep praying that peace will be restored.
An AP story reported that the civil conflict has caused more than 26,000 people to flee the country into Uganda.
Don works with the Mt Juliet TN congregation in South Sudanese missions.
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