The residents of the Abyei Administrative Area have voiced their concern over skyrocketing commodity prices in the main markets of Amiet and Abyei.
Goods to the area are mainly imported from Sudan which has been embroiled in war for the last three months and East Africa which is far.
According to officials, there has been a sharp decline in the volume of goods from Sudan due to the conflict there, leaving the area in dire need of supplies.
Abuk Ajim, a returnee who fled the war in Khartoum, said prices in the Abyei market drastically increased recently and that being jobless worsened her situation and the capacity to feed her family.
“The prices are too high in Abyei and a bar of soap which cost SSP 700 in the past now goes for 1,500. When I came here, one cup of flour which cannot even feed a family of five cost SSP 800 but it is now 1,000 and half a liter of cooking oil is now 2,000 from SSP 1,200, and a small cup of sugar is now 3000 up from SSP 1,500,” she lamented. “Life is horrible if you have no job because you cannot afford to buy anything. A malwa of sorghum which used to be SSP 1,000 is now 1,500.”
“Life is getting harder every day,” Ajim added dejectedly.
Another Abyei resident, Nyadit Yak, confirmed and bemoaned that food prices increasing daily even at wholesale shops.
“We are fine only that prices increase all the time. 25 kg of flour now costs SSP 36,000 up from 25,000, 20 liters of cooking oil which was 45,000 is currently sold at SSP 75,000 and 10 kg sugar which was 4,500 now costs SSP 9,000,” she said.
According to Yak, shopkeepers sell a malwa of groundnut at between SSP 2,500 and 3,000 yet it cost 1,500 in April. She said that the price of a malwa of sorghum reduced to SSP 1,500 from 2,500 when the World Food Programme (WFP) distributed food in the area recently.
“WFP distributed food to IDPs and returnees that is why sorghum now costs less than groundnuts,” she4 added. “The issue is that a kilogram of beef now costs SSP 3,000 up from 1,800 and goats meat which was SSP 3,200 shot up to 4,000.”
Meanwhile, Chol Kuol, the secretary general of the Abyei Administrative Area Chamber of Commerce, told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that prices of sorghum and onions were slightly reduced because they are the only goods coming from Sudan.
“Business activities are going on well the prices of food items are moderate but the big problem is that transportation charges are high especially from Twic County in Warrap State to Amiet and Abyei markets. A sack of sorghum reduced slightly from SSP 60,000 to 52,000 and this is because the neighboring Sudanese regions of Kordofan and Darfur supply Abyei with sorghum and onions only,” he explained. “The prices of flour and sugar remain high. 50 kg of flour in Abyei is sold at SSP 70,000 and it was SSP 67,000, 50kg of sugar is at 80,000 up from SSP 76,000 two months ago.”
Kuol appreciated UNISFA’s Indian Battalion for patrolling and providing security on the road from the Nyinkuac checkpoint to Amiet market which he said contributed to the smooth flow of goods.
For his part, Abyei Information Minister Bol Koch said security is relatively stable.
“The general security situation is calm with the exception of an incident two weeks ago when a truck driver was attacked by armed youth along the Warrap-Abyei road and robbed of SSP 3,000,000 and goods,” he said. “There are no more goods coming from Sudan but goods are coming from South Sudan and are escorted by UNISFA up to Amiet.”