Exodus from Juba drives price of bus tickets up threefold

Bus tickets from Juba to the Ugandan capital of Kampala have tripled in price in the wake of three days of clashes that began Sunday night.

Bus tickets from Juba to the Ugandan capital of Kampala have tripled in price in the wake of three days of clashes that began Sunday night.

Calm has gradually returned to the city after the clashes, with people returning to the streets and markets once again open. But many thousands are resolved on leaving the city, South Sudanese and foreigners alike.

Passengers and bus operators in Gumbo area near the bridge over the Nile said yesterday that bus tickets to Kampala were being sold at 300 SSP, a threefold increase over the previous normal rate of 100 SSP.

The cost of a ticket just to Nimule is 80 SSP, compared to 50-60 SSP before the crisis. The cost of a ticket to Gulu, Uganda, is about 120-150 SSP.

At least eight full buses left the city yesterday, though traffic is still constrained by fears of insecurity. Security checks are reportedly heavy along the route to Nimule, while the roads south to Yei and Kajo Keji remained blocked or restricted.

“Many people leaving toward Nimule are being checked. The cars are full leaving to Nimule,” said a correspondent at the bus station.

Juba’s airport likewise remains crowded as evacuation flights continue this morning. Embassies including those of the United States and the Netherlands have flights this morning to take their diplomats and citizens from the country.

Thousands of expatriates have already left in the last few days on military and charter flights organized by the governments of the United Kingdom, United States, Germany and Italy.

Witnesses at the airport yesterday also reported that the majority of passengers in the departure lounge were not expatriates but South Sudanese with foreign passports.

At a press conference yesterday, South Sudan President Salva Kiir tried to downplay the significance of the mass exodus of foreigners, explaining that it was normal for many expatriates to leave the country at this time of year.

“It is Christmas time. And everybody has the right, all the foreigners, to go back to their countries for their Christmas, and come back. Not because of the conflict in Juba,” he said, pointing out that security had improved in the city day by day since Monday.

File photo: The Juba-Nimule highway, constructed with USAID funding, is the only inter-city tarmac road in South Sudan, aside from a short stretch between Renk and the Sudan border.

Related: Insecurity causes fuel shortage in Juba (19 Dec.)