SOUTH SUDAN: ECONOMY:
Conflict leads to price hikes

5/3/2012 2:25:34 AM
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BENTIU - Violence in the conflict plagued South Sudan’s northern border states has lead to an increased number of residents leaving their homes is search of affordable food. - The prices of basic food commodities has more than doubled as tension between South Sudan and Sudan continues in the South Sudanese northern areas of Unity, making it difficult for many there to afford. In the border town of Bentiu, the price of a 50-kilogramme sack of sorghum has increased from 10 dollars to 24, while a kilogramme of sugar has tripled from one to three dollars. For the last month, traders who usually import foodstuffs from Southern Kordofan in Sudan have been victims of violence along the route to South Sudan. Many have stopped trying to cross the border altogether. The rapid increase in prices of consumer goods has forced residents of Bentiu, which is the capital of Unity state, to flee to towns in South Sudan’s greater Equatoria region, where consumer goods imported from East Africa are in abundance and relatively cheaper. Fighting between South Sudan and Sudan took a turn on Apr. 10 when South Sudan occupied the disputed oil-producing town of Heglig, in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan state. Both countries have laid claim to the town, which lies in a border area. (END/RADIO BULLETIN EDITOR/2012)

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