War-Torn South Sudan Sees River Route Boosting Trade With Sudan
- Officials say reviving barge transport may ease economic woes
- East African nation could import food, drink from north
TOPSHOT - A South Sudanese woman walks at Al-Nimir refugee camp in Sudan's east Dafur on June 20, 2017. South Sudan, which split from the north in 2011, has declared famine in parts of the country, saying a million people are on the brink of starvation. / AFP PHOTO / ASHRAF SHAZLY (Photo credit should read ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty ImagesSouth Sudan said it’s in talks with Sudan to restart river transport and boost trade between the two former foes, potentially easing the war-torn country’s economic crisis.
South Sudan is keen to revitalize a trade agreement the nations made in 2012, the year before its civil war began, Minister of Trade and Industry Moses Hassan Tiel told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Juba. The secretary-general of the chamber of commerce, Simon Akuei Deng, said river transport could bring in exports that would end high prices in South Sudan, where inflation was 155 percent in July.