Fuel crisis in Uganda over build-up at border

Uganda is undergoing a fuel crisis following a build-up of fuel transporters at the major border points of Malaba and Busia in the east of the country.

Queues of waiting trucks, as long as 70km (43 miles), have been reported.

Truck drivers in the region have been protesting against a requirement by the Ugandan government that they test for COVID-19 at the border points, regardless of whether they presented a negative PCR test or not.

The directive to test at the border was issued at the start of the month. Uganda later suspended it but there was already a build-up of trucks at the border points.

The country imports all its fuel and other petroleum products and consumes about 6.5m litres (1.7m gallons) a day.

Fuel prices have been steadily rising since last year, but a major spike has been seen in the past week.

In the capital Kampala, some filling stations have been selling only the premium petrol, known as V-power by some distributors, which costs 5,200 Uganda shillings ($1.5: £1.0) per litre at some outlets.

This is despite a ministry of energy’s directive to retailers at the weekend that prices should not exceed 5,000 Uganda shillings.

By end of last week, fuel was already at 10,000 shillings in some other countryside towns.

Many outlets have already completely run out of all fuel products.

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