The Upper Nile state deputy chairperson of the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC), Fadiat Kak, has announced that a longstanding dispute between the Renk county taxation authorities and transport companies ferrying returnees to South Sudan has been resolved.

The companies had been contracted by humanitarian organizations, primarily the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to transport South Sudanese returnees from Sudan.  However, the companies were halted by taxation officials in Renk county over a dispute over taxes to be paid by the companies.

Kak told Radio Tamazuj that an agreement has been reached following the intervention of both state and central taxation authorities. 

While Kak disclosed that they were almost exempted from payment, the agreement will instead allow the companies to pay any outstanding tax in instalments so thattheir work may continue.

South Sudanese returnees have been traveling from Sudan since 2010, prior to South Sudan’s independence, many relying on the IOM contracted river transport companies to facilitate the movement.  The dispute periodically halted many of the barges being occupied returnees leaving a number stranded at Renk river port.

File photo: Returnees at Renk port (IOM)

Related: Tax dispute at heart of Nile transport crisis (13 February 2013)