Nearly a hundred vehicles registered with South Sudan number plates were seized by Ugandan officials in Kampala between last Friday and Tuesday this week, reportedly including those of some South Sudanese government officials.
Sources in Kampala said that the Uganda Revenue Authority has been hunting cars from house to house for about a week. It is not clear why they are targeting South Sudanese-owned cars. Family members of SPLA Lt. Gen. Bapiny Monytuil told Radio Tamazuj that a car belonging to them has been taken since Saturday.
Another source, who identified himself as Garang Dut, also confirmed his car and several cars from other South Sudanese were collected by the Uganda Revenue Authority.
The officials have been demanding from vehicle-owners Interpol clearance, copy of original logbook, South Sudanese declaration, entry number (form 9), passport of car owner, documents issued at the border upon entry, document of South Sudanese clearance, and other paperwork.
According to an official at the South Sudan Embassy in Kampala, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Embassy received reports of more than 90 vehicles from South Sudanese impounded in Kampala district.
This is the first time officials from Uganda have carried out a mass seizure of vehicles from South Sudan. The exercise is only targeting South Sudanese cars.