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S. Sudan, Uganda police agree to bolster security along major trade routes

Xinhua, October 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Police chiefs from South Sudan and Uganda have agreed to carry out joint policing to improve security along two highways linking South Sudan's capital of Juba to the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

South Sudan Police Spokesman Daniel Justine Bolo told Xinhua in Juba Wednesday that the police chiefs last weekend in Kampala reviewed and extended a cooperation agreement signed in 2012 between the East African countries aimed at securing the Juba-Nimule highway and the Juba-Kaya road.

The two roads are vital to conflict-ridden South Sudan and its southern neighbor Uganda as they are used to deliver goods into the world's youngest country, but recent escalation in road ambushes has forced travelers to abandon the Juba-Kaya route.

Bolo said that under the new arrangements, each country is tasked to deploy highway-patrol police on both roads and also share information.

He said the Ugandan police chief will visit Juba in a month's period to finalize some amendments of the agreement before they could be made public.

Uganda is South Sudan's largest trade partner in the East African region, according to data from the Uganda's ministry of trade, with total exports reaching an estimated 1.18 billion U.S. dollars since 2008. But recent flare up of violence in South Sudan has reduced trade between the two countries drastically.

Armed groups in South Sudan's Equatoria region have ambushed at least five buses and killed dozens along the road linking Juba and Kampala since June. Endit