Keji Janefer
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A ceasefire monitoring body is urging the unified military command to expedite the deployment of the graduated unified forces.
Maj. Gen. Bior Leek Kuareng, the senior party representative of the former detainee to the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, said the unified forces should be deployed in the conflict-prone states such as the Upper Nile, Jonglei, and Pibor.
He raised the concerns during the opening session of the CTSAMVM technical meeting in Juba yesterday.
“We cannot wait for the second batch to be graduated. “We do not know how long it is going to take, maybe six months or one year, because the community fighting or cattle raiding in these three states is very alarming,” Maj. Gen. Bior said.
“Recently I was in Bor, and I witnessed the influx of the “white army” (militia group) that passed through the town. I think we need to address so many issues concerning the communal fighting,” he added.
The meeting focused on the recent violence in the Upper Nile and northern part of Jonglei State, as well as the alleged attack involving NAS in Central and Western Equatoria states.
They equally discussed the pre-transitional and transitional security arrangements implementation status, the JMCO update with two violation reports since the last Ceasefire Transitional Committee (CTC). This involved incidents and updates on ongoing investigations.
Maj. Gen. Bior urged the CTSAMVM to always disclose violations involving forces loyal to parties to the agreement.
He called on the members of the ceasefire monitoring body to discuss reports of any violation without disagreement.
“If it is SSPDF I hope that CTSAMVM will call it what it is—SSPDF. If it is IO, CTSAMVM has to say clearly if it is SSOA or FDs or any party. That will make us move forward and agree on the report and then we will come to a good conclusion,” he stressed.
The chair of CTSAMVM, Lt Gen Asrat Denero Amad, stated that despite clashes between the parties to the peace agreement in the Upper Nile and northern parts of Jonglei States, the ceasefire has been held in other states.
“Our briefing also includes two violation reports, one involving the SSPDF and SPLM/A-IO in Upper Nile and Jonglei states and one involving the SSPDF in Central Equatoria. These will be discussed in detail during the report briefing.”
“CTSAMVM MVT Malakal visited Maiwut County from January 9–13 to investigate the incidents of November-December 2022. “The report from this long-duration patrol shall be presented at the next CTC meeting after being discussed by JMCO,” said Denero.
He urged the Joint Defense Board (JDB) to provide the deployment plan of the graduated forces as well as the Joint Transitional Security Committee (JTSC) to provide the plans for Phase two training as well as the future plans for cantonment sites.
He noted that there was still a severe dearth of food and medicine at the cantonment sites. Denero said majority of training centres and cantonment sites had raised concerns about the shortage of food, shelter, and other critical amenities.
However, Maj Gen Chuol Rueny, a senior representative from the SPLM-IO, said the deployment of the unified forces was the responsibility of the CTC and CTSAMVM.
He said the deployment of forces will provide the citizens with a better settlement and chance of development.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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