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Juba - City of Hope

Juba in Sudan it before the referendum on the independence of returnees and propagandists One gives up everything, the other could lose everything

appeared in the taz

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17/12/2010

on the central roundabout in the city center projecting a digital clock from the traffic chaos. "Countdown to the independence referendum" on the digital display, but the numbers of which have expired. Time is again the hopelessly dilapidated power grid collapsed. is Still in Southern Sudan capital of almost everyone believes that the days of the unity of Africa's largest land area, Sudan is counted. On 9 January vote in the southern Sudanese as to whether the South is becoming estranged from the central government in Khartoum North. On the last day of registration for the referendum is Tito Marou in the queue. The chemistry student is extra to the night bus from the capital traveled to the neighboring country Uganda. The 26-year-old, typical of the Dinka ethnic group incised scar on his forehead shows his Sudanese passport, signed on the voter card, which is then laminated in plastic, and dips his finger into the ink bottle - a measure that prevents people register without ID card can be doubled. Marou hopes the referendum passes peacefully and the North accepted the result. "Then we come back from neighboring countries to help, with our learned knowledge to develop our country," he nods.

Independence is on the political agenda. Posters and stickers promoting the walls of buildings, walls and advertising display panels for separation. The largest billboard along the main street in the center shows a closeup view of President Salva Kiir, "The last march to freedom" stands in bright green letters. After 20 years of civil war against the government troops now promises the head of the ruling SPLM, a new and glorious future of the "New Sudan", which he ruled for the helicopter crash of his predecessor Garang in July 2005 - A major challenge. this final march to freedom have begun in recent weeks over 50,000 southern Sudanese, the numbers of humanitarian coordination office of the UN (OCHA). Most of them have lived for decades in Sudan's capital Khartoum. With a total of 150,000 returnees from the north, the UN agency estimates that by the spring. Although many reach Juba too late to register yet, it is a vote with their feet. returnees Angelo Loki is on a cast iron bed frame without mattress in the shade of a mango tree at the port. Behind it roars past the White Nile. Boats moored at the quay and unloaded. Young men carry in single file with bags of maize flour from a transport ship on a wobbly bridge to the truck parked on the shore. Loki happily observed the hustle and bustle. Next to him are piled his belongings: luggage with clothes, cooking pots and a coat stand, what his rain jacket dangling.

the southern Sudanese from the tribe of Didinga is literally stranded at the port of Juba. For three weeks he was from Khartoum on the Nile by boat en route, nearly his entire fortune to be around 20 euros, he has invested in the trip. Southern Sudan government has promised buses and trucks after they graduate, they pick up at the port in Juba and put them in their remote native villages in the country. Loki has been waiting since two days. a trained mechanic who lived 37 years in Khartoum, was married to a Nordsudanesin and has four children with her. "Life was okay, I had a good job," he nods. However: "The situation in the north is more difficult for us Southern." Jobs would be less and less given to people from the south, the distrust grows on both sides. A few months ago he decided to leave everything and return to his home village in the south Kapoita. "I love my country so much, I will be there when we become independent," he says, grinning from ear to ear. "After so long ago I hardly recognized Juba - it has changed so much!" fact is that Juba, once consisting of round mud huts with thatched roofs and container, in which people lived in international aid workers, blossomed into a thriving town quietly. The international airport will soon get a new terminal. The main roads between the airport, downtown and the government district are paved fresh. However, infrastructure development seems more likely to align the needs of the international community. The paved road ends a dozen yards behind the U.S. representative office, a bunker-like Trutzbau. Then the road turned into a grave system of channels and drainage canal, where the garbage is collected, the foul smell at about 40 degree heat. The once much neglected south from the north to develop thanks to the revenue from the oil boon - from which the South peace agreement, according to 50 percent deserve. Since 2005, according to the organization Global Witness seven billion dollars from the oil production of the entire Sudan have flowed to the south. Not a bad condition that could have a potentially sovereign southern Sudan, a functioning infrastructure, at least in Juba. Nevertheless evident in the settlements on the outskirts that is booming and the corruption. Ministers and army officers are building up huge mansions in garish colors, which they rent at prices 2000-15000 U.S. dollars to employees of international organizations. Juba is a city of contrasts: decayed ruins from colonial times lined up to round mud huts with thatched roofs and huge new buildings in their gardens, the power generators . Rattle There is not enough energy to the entire city every day to power, but there is an expensive sushi restaurant for the elite. So far, the cost of living in Juba with the most expensive in the entire region. A tomato or an egg costs well twice or three times in comparison with neighboring countries. This is not least because almost all products are imported. In southern Sudan, not even the agricultural sector has developed to such an extent that it can supply the needs of its own population of around eight million people.

It is especially the diaspora from the East African neighbors, the transactions in Juba on Life holds - be it the Ethiopian refugee families who came in the eighties there and maintain hotels and restaurants, the Ugandan motorcycle taxi drivers who would earn in Kampala due to competition not even half. Or the dealer from Kenya and Uganda, which deliver over bumpy roads all that is needed for life in Juba.

Konyo Konyo Market district near the port is known locally as "Little Kampala" called. There is a bustling place, prices are in Luganda, the Ugandan language negotiated. Ugandan market women bid for tomatoes, onions and eggplant, which they then in the wooden stalls of the approximately five kilometers away from downtown offer.

Saleh Abas from the Ugandan capital of Kampala stands next to his truck and gave his instructions about a dozen agents. You are stacking the empty cardboard box of stairs for eggs. The businessman has in the past three days of his truck down Ugandan sold eggs. Now that all are sold out, he counts his bills.

Saleh delivered a weekly charge of 4,000 Stairs fresh eggs from Kampala to Juba. "A crazy business," he says. At the central market in Uganda, he buys a stairway for the equivalent of 1.60 euros. One and a half days and over 700 miles later reached his truck to the market place near the port of Juba. There he sold the stairs for twice the price. Similar was the business with tomatoes, pineapple, sugar cane and bananas, all products that are not grown in southern Sudan because of the dry climate.

But to do business in Southern Sudan, "it's like the Wild West," says Rashid Manafa, Chairman of the Federation of Ugandan traders in Southern Sudan to flog their wares. Bribes at checkpoints are common. Southern Sudan police had confiscated truck loads of goods. Now the dealer request compensation for their losses. Saleh also aligned on the risks of travel to Juba. Besides the official import tax of around $ 500 do police collect bribes at road blocks. Per trip cost him about $ 300 additional.

Saleh fears the political uncertainty. He has decided to suspend trading after the referendum. "If everything remains peaceful, I come back - otherwise I will try my luck somewhere else," he says. Just as he thought many Ugandans, turn the goods in southern Sudan. Why start now restaurant owners and hotel managers, food and beer hoarding in order to pamper their guests over Christmas. The result: In Juba, the prices are currently extremely in dollar notes are in short supply, the rate shoots up. And no one can predict whether the situation returned to normal after the referendum in January.