(Bentiu, southern Sudan) –Traffic police in Payinjiar, Mayiandit and Leer counties in Unity state are being accused of demanding bribes from passing motorists.
An owner of a lorry that travels regularly on the Payinjiar - Leer road claims that local authorities are demanding a lot of money in all road blocks.
Our correspondent in Unity state, Mabor Puot, sent this the report…
[Mabor Puot]: “There is only one lorry that operates between Payinjiar and Leer. The owner of that lorry threatened to stop operating between those two counties because he has to pay too many bribes. There are four main road-blocks in Mayom payam in Payinjiar county. He pays 20 SDG to the traffic police every day. He is also paying some money to local authorities. The same thing also happens at county headquarters where he has to pay more money. There are complaints coming from travelers about the bus fares. When you are going from Leer to Panyjiar you pay 30 Sudanese pounds. And this is a lot but the owners say they are charging people that much because they are being bribed. When I asked Thak Keel, the police officer in Panyjiar headquarters about the accusations, he told me that it was the government’s business and none of my business.”
That was our correspondent Mabor Puot, in Bentiu.
Showing posts with label Bentiu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bentiu. Show all posts
Friday, December 04, 2009
South Sudan: Traffic police in Payinjiar, Mayiandit and Leer counties in Unity state accused of demanding bribes from passing motorists
From SRS - Sudan Radio Service December 4, 2009:
Monday, October 19, 2009
South Sudan: UN airlifts Paulino Matip’s forces to Juba
According to the following report, about 300 troops of General Paulino Matip were expected to have arrived in Juba over the weekend through the UN air operation which began on Saturday.
From Sudan Tribune by James Gatdet Dak, Monday, 19 October 2009:
UN airlifts General Matip’s forces to Juba
From Sudan Tribune by James Gatdet Dak, Monday, 19 October 2009:
UN airlifts General Matip’s forces to Juba
October 18, 2009 (JUBA) – The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has begun airlifting hundreds of guards of General Paulino Matip to the Southern Sudan capital, Juba, from Bentiu, the state capital of the oil rich Unity state.Click into original article to view 64+ comments. Click on Matip label here below for related reports.
About three hundred troops were expected to have arrived in Juba over the weekend through the UN air operation which began on Saturday.
Last week, forces guarding the Bentiu residence of the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA forces, Lt. General Paulino Matip Nhial clashed with another unit of the Sudan people’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the town, leaving more than ten people dead, mostly soldiers.
The SPLA General Headquarters in Juba described the incident as a purely army affair and had nothing to do with politics.
Southern Sudan Vice President Dr. Riek Machar said the fighting erupted when the house of General Matip was attacked by heavily armed soldiers during which even tanks were used in the attack.
Authorities have been investigating the incident to establish its cause. However, in a public letter attributed to him and addressed to the international community, Gen. Paulino Matip accused the SPLA and its Commander-in-Chief, Salva Kiir Mayardit of plotting against him.
He stated that the attack against his guards was coordinated in conjunction with the state governor at the highest level of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Speaking from Bentiu, Governor Taban Deng Gai said there was no intention and there will never be bad intention to plan an action against General Matip because there is no reason that warrants such ill act against a member of the same government.
Machar said the removal of the forces from Bentiu was done with the consent of General Paulino Matip in order to defuse any further tension in the town that might arise because of their vicinity and probable contacts with the other unit.
He commended the positive attitude Gen. Matip has maintained by ordering his guards in the town not to retaliate and by not overreacting negatively to the incident.
He added that the Deputy Commander-in-Chief who is currently sick in Juba is ready to discuss and resolve the matter with his Commander-in-Chief after he recovers his health.
Former forces of General Matip, which officially fell under the description of Other Armed Groups (OAGs), in accordance with the 2005 North-South peace deal, joined with the SPLA in the Juba Declaration on unity of the ranks and file in 2006.
Matip was named Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the army and more than 50,000 of his forces were integrated into the SPLA and other organized forces.
However, some of his forces were reserved to continue under his direct command to provide for his security.
In a press conference he conducted shortly after the Bentiu incident, the President of the Government of Southern Sudan and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit said he allowed Gen. Paulino Matip to maintain a number of forces to guard his homes in the region for the purposes of building confidence after the Juba Declaration.
Gen. Matip already has several hundreds of guards at his residence inside Juba and in the outskirts of the town.
The government is currently planning to train and establish a special presidential guards unit in order to centralize providing security for the collective senior leadership.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Message to South Sudan's Director General of Education Peter Dak Galuak: All of the East African teachers want to go home but must be paid first
Copy of two emails received today in response to yesterday's report at Sudan Watch entitled South Sudan: State Director for Education denies that 200 unpaid East African teachers in Bentiu want to go home
Dear Jones,
We have read your article from sudanwatch website and the reporting. Now I want to tell you the full story of East African teachers. Since the beginning of this year, paying our salaries has been a problem. We have been paid only four months this year and every time we are paid it is after a serious demonstration. Actually, now it is worse and we are tired of the job because of non payment and intimidation every time we request to be paid. And now all of us want to go home but we have to be paid first.
We are suprised by the statements of the Director General of Education that few people want to go home. They want to politicise an issue that is obvious. In fact, they have never told teachers who want to go home to write down their names and they refused.
The issue is let the government of Unity State pay East African Teachers and let them go home. It's like we are held hostage here. We cannot move without money because we cannot move to Uganda or Kenya on foot.
Please help us to highlight this issue and if you want any more information please email us on eastafricanteachers@yahoo.com
Thanks.
Yours
East African Teachers Representative.
- - -
I also agree with the east africans because on recieving money in August they first demonstrate and when it came to september there are demonstrating again for their five months pay and when i talked to one of them he said that if the government can no longer afford them, then let it lay them off as they suggest. On being paid 2 months they say that its now two weeks ever since the speaker of parliament gave them this promise and the education Minister no longer wants to see them neither does he talk/communicate to them on what is going on. And now there more scared of the security cause some say better they pay them two months with an Air ticket back to their countries.
Bentiu, Unity State, S. Sudan: 16 killed in fighting between SPLA troops guarding governor's building and Paulino Matip's offices
According to the following AFP report, sixteen people have been killed and several injured in a misunderstanding between the guards of ex-warlord Paulino Matip and the guards of the governor's building in oil-rich Bentiu, Unity State, south Sudan. Currently, Mr Matip is deputy commander-in-chief of southern Sudanese forces and has a loyal following of troops. Unity State provides an estimated 80 percent of all the oil currently drilled in south Sudan.
Source: AFP, Saturday, 3 October 2009. Copy in full:
Clashes in south Sudan oil region kills 16: army
Source: AFP, Saturday, 3 October 2009. Copy in full:
Clashes in south Sudan oil region kills 16: army
JUBA, Sudan — Sixteen people were killed and several wounded in clashes in south Sudan between forces loyal to an ex-warlord and an oil-rich state governor's guards, military sources said on Saturday.
Friday's fighting in Unity State resulted from a "misunderstanding between Paulino Matip's guards and the guards of the governor" in the state capital of Bentiu, south Sudan information minister Paul Mayom told reporters.
Unity State, which provides an estimated 80 percent of all the oil currently drilled in the south, was the scene of persistent attacks in early 2008 between the Sudanese military and the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the former southern rebel force that is now the southern Sudanese army.
Matip, a notoriously effective northern commander during the 1983-2005 civil war that claimed some two million lives, was integrated into the new southern Sudanese armed forces after the fighting ended.
He is now deputy commander-in-chief of southern Sudanese forces and has a loyal following of troops.
A military official said Friday's fighting involved SPLA troops guarding Matip's offices and those protecting the governor's building.
A senior SPLA source, speaking on Saturday on condition of anonymity, said 12 Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) members were killed and 17 wounded, and that four civilians died and four more were wounded.
Officials in Unity State earlier put the total number of dead at 12.
The military official said Bentiu was now calm, and that the SPLA had begun an investigation into the firefight.
Click on Bentiu label here below for previous report re unpaid East African teachers wanting to go home. Also, see Sudan Tribune, 3 October 2009: Fresh clashes erupt in Sudan’s Unity state: sources
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Friday, October 02, 2009
South Sudan: State Director for Education denies that 200 unpaid East African teachers in Bentiu want to go home
Over two hundred secondary teachers from Kenya and Uganda working in Bentiu, southern Sudan are demanding to be paid salary arrears and are requesting to be taken back to their countries.
According to the below copied report from Sudan Radio Service, the teachers have stayed five months without getting salaries. The state government has agreed to pay them two months salary and the rest before the end of the year.
Today, Friday, October 2, someone posted the following comment on Sudan Watch post "UN Jobs - International Job Vacancies in Sudan"
According to the below copied report from Sudan Radio Service, the teachers have stayed five months without getting salaries. The state government has agreed to pay them two months salary and the rest before the end of the year.
Today, Friday, October 2, someone posted the following comment on Sudan Watch post "UN Jobs - International Job Vacancies in Sudan"
Anonymous said...Here is a report from Sudan Radio Service - Teachers in Bentiu Want to Go Home - 25 September 2009:
How i wish you could intervine the east African teachers' issue /cry who were employed to serve the government in Unity state Bentiu, currently under alot of intimidation cause of fighting for their rights under a theme pay us our five months arears and take us back to our home countries.
(Bentiu) – Over two hundred secondary teachers from East Africa working in Bentiu are demanding to be paid salary arrears and are requesting to be taken back to their countries.
Ann Kosgei is one of the teachers. She spoke to Sudan Radio Service by telephone from Bentiu on Friday.
[Ann Kosgei]: “Yesterday, we went to the Ministry of Education and we told them that the teachers wanted to go home. The reason was that the situation of the teachers now. We stayed five months without getting salaries. As you know, we are East Africans, we are coming from Kenya and Uganda. Here we don’t have anything to eat, we are not given money, we are not given food, we have nothing to eat, so we went to the ministry to take us back to our countries.”
The state Director for Education, Peter Dak Galuak, confirmed that the teachers were demanding their salaries but denied claims that they wanted to return home.
[Peter Dak-Nuer]: “Not all of the teachers want to go back to their countries, it’s just about 30 of them who came yesterday and said that they wanted to go back. But we told them that those who want to go back should write their names, and they refused. I think it’s just a way to threaten us so that they get their way. I talked to them and told them that they should go back to their places and the government is working hard to pay their money, even the state Minister of Local Government, Samuel Lony, talked to them and they listened to him. That is why nobody is coming to the ministry today.”
Dak said that the state government has agreed to pay them two months salary and the rest would be paid to the teachers before the end of the year.
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