Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Joint Defense Board has been instructed to organize food delivery to all the training facilities ahead of the planned deployment of newly graduated Unified Necessary Forces.
Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, the spokesperson for the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces, told The City Review on Tuesday that the preliminary phase for the redeployment strategies for the necessary unified forces, whose graduation concluded on January 14, 2023, has already begun.
“What I know is that my chief of defense forces told me that it is a pre-deployment strategy and that they directed JDB and the JTSC to preposition in all training centres so that the forces can return.”
“That was the last directive I had from the chief of defense forces,” Lul explained.
Over 52,000 of the necessary unified forces who have graduated are still waiting for deployment at the training centres.
However, the ceasefire body, CTSAMVM, disclosed that most of the training centres and cantonment sites reported a serious lack of food, shelter, and other necessities.
The Chairperson of CTSAMVM, Lt Gen Asrat Denero Amad, had urged the JDB to provide a deployment plan for the graduated forces.
Meanwhile, he further urged the JTSC to provide the plans for Phase two training as well as the future plans for the cantonment sites.
Gen Lul said the need to give firearms to the forces upon their redeployment still remains the biggest challenge to the government.
The government has complained about the impact of the arms embargo imposed on South Sudan by the UN Security Council.
Lul said there was an alternative as the government waits on the decision of the Security Council to lift the embargo.
He stated that the international community should reconsider its position on the lifting of the arms embargo since the implementation of the peace agreement as part of the transitional security arrangement has been implemented in letter and spirit.
“Because the issue of sanctions is a big problem, I am sure the leadership will start with those who have arms and work out the issue of those who are unarmed, but we strongly believe that with all the steps we have taken,” he said.
“I am sure the international community will be in a position to reconsider their position.”
He exuded confidence that South Sudan had been working extra hard to comply with the directives of the UN Security Council and that the restrictions would soon be overturned.
In May, a panel of experts from the UN Security Council will examine the status of the arms embargo on South Sudan and decide whether to renew or lift it based on their evaluation of the government’s performance.
The Security Council has been renewing South Sudan’s sanctions and arms embargo for one year.
South Sudan has often demanded the arms embargo be repealed. But resolution 2633 (2022) of the Council, which extended the embargo last year, was supported by a vote of 10 in favor to 0 against, and 5 abstentions.
The Council decided to extend, until May 31, 2023, the arms control measures imposed by Resolution 2428 (2018), which instructs all Member States to prohibit the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of arms to the territory of South Sudan.
They strongly denounced past and ongoing human rights violations in South Sudan and expressed grave concern over the country’s ongoing fighting.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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