Kenya issues travel advisory against parts of South Sudan

Foreign affairs and trade Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma

NAIROBI, KENYA: The government has issued travel alert warning her citizens against travelling to several areas in South Sudan affected by conflict in the last six months.

Since the signing of comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) eight years ago, Kenyan investors have made significant inroads into South Sudan.

Kenyans have invested in various sectors including banking, insurance, aviation, construction, hospitality, and information and communication technologies (ICT), transportation, and wholesale and retail trade. 

The warning issued on Wednesday comes after rebels captured Kenyan pilots in the area of Akobo, Great Upper Nile region, near South Sudan’s border with Ethiopia. 

The pilots’ plane developed technical problems before crash landing killing South Sudan national and several head of cattle. The two pilots have since been released after Sh10.8million settlement.

The Oil-rich South Sudan has been in the throes of civil war since 2013 months after President Salva Kiir fired his then deputy Riek Machar.

The conflict has displaced a third of the population, shut down most of the oil production and strangled the economy.

Machar, who fled to Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016 after fierce fighting broke out in Juba, is now being held in South Africa to stop him fomenting trouble, diplomatic and political sources say.