{UAH} Peace in South Sudan matters to Ugandans

Despite the horrors that have been taking place in South Sudan the last few weeks, some Ugandans are still keen on going back to Juba to ply their trade. The recent fighting in South Sudan between factions of the army led to about 300 deaths and many more being injured.

Those who owned businesses spoke of how they lost their property, including personal items. They were forced to stay indoors and lie under their beds for hours. By the time many of them came back to Uganda, evacuated by the Ugandan army, they were relieved to be home, safe and sound.

And yet, even with an uneasy calm in South Sudan, Ugandans still want to go back and do business. In a story, Traders defy security warning, return to South Sudan, published in yesterday's Daily Monitor, the Aswa regional police spokesperson Jimmy Patrick Okema said they had recorded more than 50 Ugandan traders who have crossed from the Elegu border point to South Sudan.

That Ugandans are willing to risk their lives and property and go back to a country where there has been bloodshed and no semblance of a return to normalcy, says many things.

First, it says that many Ugandans are desperate to earn a living and put food on the tables of their families. The youth unemployment rate in Uganda is high. This means there are many people who will jump at whatever opportunity they find to earn a living.

Mr Okema was noted saying it was absurd that the Ugandans who were making their way back to South Sudan were the very ones who had cried out to the government to evacuate them. But that is what desperation can drive people to do. Even if it means going to a country which is unsecure, they will risk it.

It also means that for all its insecurity, South Sudan is a country with vast opportunities. Many Ugandans who have worked there when it has been relatively peaceful have waxed lyrical about the kind of money to be made.

The risks Ugandans are willing to take to return to a very unsafe country like South Sudan should be a wake-up call for the government. It should, therefore, look at first providing employment for its youth, right at home and where they can feel safe.

Secondly, the government should be looking to help South Sudan return to sustainable peace to allow Ugandans ply their trade freely given the great business prospects in that country.

The fighting in South Sudan is not just a matter of war in a neighbouring country. Ugandans are greatly affected too.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Editorial/Peace-in-South-Sudan-matters-to-Ugandans/689360-3325920-view-asBlogPost-155v4d8z/index.html

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"War is nothing but a  continuation of political intercourse, with a mixture of other means. Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." 

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