Rumbek Business Community Complains Of Harassment

This article was last updated on May 25, 2022

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Some shops inside Rumbek Central market closed down for security reasons as the businesses men and women complain of high taxes and harassment by security agents.  Most businesses in the state capital are owned by foreign nationals.

A wholesale trader in Rumbek Central County closed down his business and opted to re-establish it in Yei County in Central Equatoria. He said that government is very “harsh and aggressive.”

“Something I have never seen in my life is a deputy governor collecting taxes in auction and in taxation unit. I have decided to close down my business because I am getting nothing.  I sit in the shop and no customers come to buy. I am told the local residents are scared to come to town,” he said.

Rebecca Amer Majok, a 40-year-old woman who sells vegetable expressed disappointment over the abuse of rules.  “Daily my son, you can hear a person is tortured to death in military cell. You can hear people are being robbed on highway. You can hear unknown gunman shot a person dead.

“You can hear a woman died in hospital during child birth. You can hear government officials are having conflict among themselves. You can hear disarmament is being imposed.. Now harassment and intimidation has become permanent constitution of Lakes state,” she lamented.

On October 12, 2013, AFEX, a foreign company operating in Lakes state’s Rumbek Central County closed down allegedly for government-imposed restrictions.

AFEX was among the first companies to begin operating in Rumbek Central County after the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) signed a peace deal with Khartoum in 2005.

The business community in Rumbek Central County has repeatedly reported that their complaints of harassment and abuse but have been ignored by the government.

They also complain of high taxes and that the governor’s decision to ban alcoholic drinks earlier this year has damaged their businesses. On Wednesday Mohamed Adom Taric, 30, from Darfur’s Zaghawa ethnic group was killed Malakia area of Rumbek in a small lodge.