Mbanza Kongo — Trucks transporting various goods from Luanda to Cabinda and vice versa, with transit in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been suspended since Saturday (10) for an indefinite period, in protest against high customs fees applied in the neighboring country.
The information was provided on Saturday, in Mbanza Kongo, Zaire province, by the president of the Association of Road Transport of Goods of Angola (ATROMA), António Gavião Neto.
According to the official, who was speaking at a press conference, the issue is the abysmal difference between customs fees charged on both sides of the common border.
He explained that, on the Congolese side, an Angolan truck driver pays four thousand dollars for each 300-kilometer journey, covered within this neighboring country, in transit to Cabinda.
While on the Angolan side, according to the official, only 50 dollars are charged to Congolese truck drivers who travel within the national territory, on a route over two thousand kilometers.
He said that this disproportionate taxation has a direct impact on the increase in the sales prices of basic food products in the province of Cabinda.
António Gavião Neto highlighted that his organization has been holding talks with the Congolese side for years, with a view to standardizing the rates applied on both parts of the common border, but without reaching a consensus.
It is important to remember that the Luanda / Cabinda logistics corridor, passing through the province of Zaire, is the only road that facilitates the resupply of the province of Cabinda with various goods, given the territorial discontinuity of this region further north of Angola.
"Circulation on this route can only be lifted if there is some consensus with the Congolese side", he said.
By the way, the specialist in international relations, António Matumona, who spoke to ANGOP, believes that it is pertinent to resort to the policy of reciprocity, in this specific case, foreseen in relations between the two countries.
He explained that as neighbors, neither country should ever enact unilateral measures that harm its neighbor, under penalty of the affected side proceeding in the same direction. DA/PMV/AC/DOJ
