The Sudanese community leader in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State has called on the South Sudan Inspector General of Police (IGP) to protect the fleeing Sudanese from being subjected to migration fee payment.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Friday in Wau, Abiji Nuradaim Mohamed said the South Sudan police were demanding 450,000 SSP from the refugees, an amount that was being paid by the Sudanese business community before the conflict erupted.
He said the 450,000 SSP was a three months’ migration fee, but was now being imposed on the fleeing refugees at all the entry points from Abyei, Kuajok and Wau.
“We are facing challenges when entering South Sudan. In Abyei, we pay 45,000 SSP and when entering Kuajok, you have to pay the same amount to enter Wau. When you reach Wau, you have to pay 45,000 SSP,” said Abiji Nuradam Mohamed.
The community leader said the Sudanese entering the South were looking for protection for which they should not pay.
Mohamed said all the Sudanese who had been staying in the Greater Bahr el-Ghazal were paying 45,000 SSP in three months as migration fees, but the amount was now being imposed on all the fleeing Sudanese.
He mentioned that refugee commission was not helping them with food in Wau.
“My message to the South Sudan Inspector General of Police is to allow feeling Sudanese through Abyei to enter freely as was agreed,” he added.
“Let him see the condition of Sudanese in the South and also consider the current commodity prices that they were facing,” he said.
Last month, Stephen Robo Musa from the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State, strongly condemned the migration police for collecting the money from the refugees.
Musa described the act as a violation of the international law that protects the free movement of the refugees worldwide.