A Uganda registered aircraft belonging to Eagle Air has suspended its flight to South Sudan’s Yei River State, complaining of harassment by security officials at the airport.
A senior manager who preferred anonymity told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that the airline has decided to ground its aircraft due to harassment by security officials at Yei airstrip.
He claimed that the security officers had been demanding the company to pay them 11,000 USD secretly without any clear reasons.
The official pointed out that they pay taxes to the government, while stressing that they are not ready to pay money for private pockets.
The manager further said the airline company will not continue providing its services until the state government intervenes.
“We just want to remind you that we are not going to Yei town until the issue is resolved. We have already informed some of our customers who are going to Yei and for those who want to go to Yei from Uganda should try other connection routes,” he said.
For his part, the Commissioner of Yei River County, Denis Lasuba said he has been informed about the suspension of Eagle Air.
Lasuba expressed the government’s commitment to address the issue as soon as possible to allow the airline company to resume its services.
“I have received the concern raised by Eagle Air and we are going to sit down with the security agents so that this issue is amicably resolved,” said Lasuba.
Insecurity in Yei River has cut off all roads leading to neighboring Uganda, forcing people to resort to travel by air, the main mode of transport.