‘Low-tax vehicle imports threaten Sudan’s transport sector’

The Sudanese Federation of Transportation Unions has cautioned of the consequences of the government decision to permit used vehicles to be imported at a reduced customs rate of 50 percent.

Amin Bashir El Nefeidi, chairman of the Federation told Sudan News Agency (Suna) on Monday that the governmental Decree No 203 issued last week threatens the transport sector in the country.

He said that the decision was made “without consideration ofthe recommendations of the Council of Ministers’ Economic Development Sector stating that the subject needs further research, as well as ignoring the large number of lorries standing idle because they need repair”.

Rumours say that the decree is related to the interests of government militias, whose members seized large numbers of cars and lorries from the Central African Republic (CAR).

Several people in South Darfur told Radio Dabanga on Tuesday that the decision to permitthe import of older models of vehicles and reducing the custom fees duties is considered “a bonus for the militias that used these vehicles during the CAR civil war”.

The South Darfur government was sworn-in on Sunday, and immediately agreed to ratify the import of vehicles from Chad and CAR, with a custom fee reduction of less than 50 percent of the value of the vehicles. The decision constitutes an exception to the Sudanese Customs Act, which prohibits the import of cars produced before 2014.

The sources said that the decision also opened the door for traders to import even more vehicles into the state, and reported that large numbers of used cars without number plateshave already poured into Nyala, capital of South Darfur.

They consider the new procedures as “criminal”. They allege that the vehicles brought in from CAR “in fact belong to the CAR government, traders, and citizens and were stolen during the chaos of the civil war”.

In December 2012 fighting erupted in CAR between the CAR government's former Séléka coalition of rebel groups, who are mainly from the Muslim minority, and the mainly Christian anti-balaka coalition. In January 2014, President Djotodia resigned and was replaced by Catherine Samba-Panza, but the conflict continued.