UN mission starts rehabilitation of several roads in S.Sudan to ease access

JUBA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said Tuesday it has commenced the rehabilitation of some 2,305 km of roads to ease access in the vast war-torn country.

UNMISS head David Shearer told journalists in Juba that together with the government, World Food Program (WFP) and the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), they have targeted rehabilitation of key routes in the northern and central regions including those which were damaged during the rainy season.

"We will target South Sudan's key routes, including Juba-Bor, Bor-Pibor, Yambio-Mundri, Rokon-Rumbek-Wau-Kuajok-Bentiu and Malakal-Melut," he said in Juba.

He said that a better transport network brings people together and helps build peace while citing bad roads for hindering the peace conferences they have been supporting in the far northern towns of Bor and Pibor as delegates have been airlifted.

Shearer said that UNMISS has stepped in to help the government rehabilitate the roads to foster peace and economic development when the now more than three years of conflict ends.

"Without roads, farmers can't get their goods to the market, traders can't do business. A few months ago I visited Aweil, which is experiencing less conflict than elsewhere, but people are hungry because food can't reach them," he said.

Shearer said that the Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian and South Korean peacekeeping engineers will embark on the mission's most ambitious rehabilitation program.

The UNMISS head also said that in the most fertile parts of the country like the Equatoria, ongoing fighting means that food can't be transported safely or cheaply to markets in the northern region.

South Sudan has only 215 km of tarmac roads since winning independence from Sudan in 2011.

"At independence it (South Sudan) inherited one of the worst transport infrastructures in the world. For example, the journey from Juba to Bentiu is 1,000 km but takes 14-20 days and is only possible in the dry season," Shearer said.

He added that fixing the roads helps improve security, like in the Equatorias, where UNMISS is able to push its peacekeeping patrols deeper and further to deter violence, and give people confidence to go home.

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel chief Riek Machar led to split within the SPLA, leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines.

The 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016 caused the SPLA-in opposition rebel leader Machar to flee the capital. Enditem