Juba, December 6, 2018 (SSNA) — Djibouti has announced that it will resume port services to South Sudan after a peace deal was agreed between parties to the conflict, Djibouti’s Duraleh Multipurpose Port’s (DMP) Chief Executive, Wahib Daher Aden, told the media.
The announcement comes nearly three months after South Sudanese warring factions signed an Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)-brokered in September in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Briefing journalists in Djibouti, Mr. explained that his country was offering port services to South Sudan before the war broke out and that the conflict is now being resolved.
“Just before the war in South Sudan broke, we were serving the country. Unfortunately, the war broke out and we were forced to stop,” Wahib said, adding, “Now, as peace is being restored in the country, we are going to restart that service for South Sudan.”
The DMP Executive also disclosed that his nation will also provide the same services to Burundi and Rwanda.
It is not clear what services the East African nation was offering to South Sudan at its port.
A South Sudanese legal analyst who declined to be named in the report because of the nature of the case told the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) in Juba on Thursday that nobody knows exactly what services Djibouti was offering to Juba. He, however, admits that Djibouti is a country where every nation seems to be interested in using its port.
“There are many countries including world powers using Djibouti for many reasons. The fact is that these reasons are best known to them. Some nations use the port for whatever reason they want, but the reality is that most countries that are using Djibouti port are using it for military purposes and therefore South Sudan could be one of those nations,” he explains.
“Or…maybe Juba is simply using the port to export goods for our country,” the expert jokingly asserts.
The South Sudan News Agency has confirmed that South Sudan was, in fact, using Djibouti’s port before and after the civil war erupted. However, the SSNA cannot independently verify when Djibouti terminated the port deal.