Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring and Verification Board disclosed on Monday that it is reducing its team and the number of staff in Juba due to a lack of funding.
The board announced on Monday after resuming its meetings following a long period of funding crisis.
Its activities have been affected since July 2023 due to serious logistical and operation challenges following the withdrawal of funding by the US government.
On June 16, 2023, the United States government stripped financial support of the critical peace monitoring bodies – R-JMEC and CTSAM-VM, citing a stagnant peace process and lack of political will.
In a statement, Ned Price, the Spokesperson of the US Department of State made public the withdrawal of financial assistance to the observers, because of lack of progress in the peace implementation.
In the extraordinary sitting of Monday, CTSAM-VM Chairperson Hailu Gonfa Edoss revealed that the intuition did not publish nine violation reports due to the reduction in donor support.
He revealed that the body is now considering downsizing its staff in January amid worries that the move will create further challenges to the mission.
“There are currently 9 CTSAM-VM reports which have not been published due to the CTC issue, with several more in the pipeline. Due to a reduction in donor support, CTSAMVM will be downsizing in January,” Gonfa said.
He disclosed that the number of Monitoring and Verification Teams (MVTs) will be reduced from 8 to 6 people. There will also be a reduction in the number of Headquarters staff, he said.
“This reduction will create further challenges for the Mission. Please understand that we will all have to learn how to manage with considerably fewer resources.”
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