Southern Sudan
 

HI!Travellers

I'll be soon travelling acroos Africa.
I need to know how is the situation right now
in South Sudan??
Can I still get through South of Sudan, via
the Central African Republic?
Some say I might need an invitation letter??
Sounds very confusing!
Can you shed a light please?
Cheers!!!

I just returned from several months of work in South Sudan. I would not recommend you plan a ride through there just yet. There are a number of things that could cause you more grief than you could ever imagine on a trip.

1) The government is in transition right now. Although there is no longer any fighting arising out of the north/south conflict, there is still a great deal of tribal fighting (e.g. over marriages, cows, land, stuff like that) which has been going on since time immemorial, and there is no police force of any kind. This means, if you get into any kind of problem, there is no-one to arbitrate it for you, and there will be no consequences for anyone who decides to kill you.

2) Infrastructure? Forget it. Unless your moto runs on diesel fuel, you probably won't be able to buy fuel for it.

3) What tiny amount of services are available - e.g. lodging, stuff like that - are horribly expensive now due to the influx of NGO's arising out of the recent peace agreement. Plan on over $100 a night to sleep anywhere that might give you a roof over your head and the possibility of washing up in the morning.

4) My experience, gathered from many years of working in conflicts, is that security is usually worse right after the formal end of a conflict. Everyone is nervous, the economy has not yet started back up, and everyone still has their gun.

Give it a pass for the next 2 years, then have a look at it.

PanEuropean

PS: During this past rotation (Nov-Feb), I never even saw a tourist/trekker/overlander in Lokichokio, which is the Northern Kenya gateway into South Sudan.

I hope this response doesn't arrive too late...

We met a guy in Chad in April 2003 who was stuck like us because the border with Sudan had closed just a couple of weeks before, due to the war in the Darfur region. Merrit and I flew from Ndjamena to Khartoum and continued our ride south. 3 months later, as we were having dinner downtown Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, here is Nick! He had found his way through the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan. At that time, a pass from the SPLA (Sudan Peoples Liberation Army) was necessary. I don't know about the current situation.

Look for his name (Nick Pailthorpe) in the following newsletter:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/new...02-12-01.shtml
Clicking on the link under his name will give you his email address. You might want to contact him for further info.

Something to know, though, is that Nick is Black and it might help a bit to walk around towns that have been ravaged by years of civil war without raising too much attention.

Pierre (& Merritt too)
http://www.photobiker.com


[This message has been edited by pierresas (edited 14 June 2005).]