SOUTH SUDAN: On Friday, South Sudan’s parties agreed to cease hostilities in the wake of recent fighting in northern Upper Nile and Unity states.
Thoi Chany Reat, deputy head of the South Sudan army (SSPDF), said after meeting his counterparts from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in opposition (SPLA-IO) and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
“We urge the security mechanisms to speed up the process of graduation of the unified forces and also spare no effort in preparing for phase two of the unification of forces,” said Reat.
As part of the joint meeting with top commanders from both sides, he said, “We ask all forces to stop fighting and to keep the cessation of hostilities agreement in place.”
The SPLA-IO and SSPDF clashed last week in Koch County, Unity State, and Maiwut in Upper Nile State.
President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, leader of SPLA-IO, agreed on April 3 to share ratios within the unified army command structure to be set up next week.
SSPDF, SSOA, and SPLA-IO commanders will soon meet to form a high-level committee to keep the ceasefire in hotspot areas. Gabriel Duop Lam, the acting chief of general staff for the SPLA-IO, said this.
Julius Tabuley, head of SSOA forces, said the screening and streamlining of ranks has already been completed, paving the way for the graduation of the 83,000 unified forces.
“In December last year, we sent committees to various training centers, and their work was to screen, reorganize, and unify the forces in those centers. This work was concluded successfully.
Next week, there will be a decree on how to set up the unified army command.