JUBA – The representative of the SPLM Former Detainees to the Ceasefire and Transitional Security, Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM), Major-General Bior Leek Kuareng, has refuted a report by the head of the ceasefire monitoring agency that the ceasefire is holding across the country.
Speaking during a CTSAMVM meeting in Juba yesterday, Yitayel Gelaw Bitew, head of the agency, said that the country’s peace implementation is progressing with no recent incidents of conflict except in Nassir, where SSPDF forces and armed youth clashed, leading to deaths and displacement.
“I am encouraged to note that the ceasefire continues to hold, as evidenced by the fact that we do not have a specific report to discuss today. This positive development is largely due to your shared commitment to the peace process,” Bitew told the meeting.
This is despite the recent fighting between the SSPDF, and local youth known as the White Army, which resulted in the deaths of at least four people, including three SSPDF soldiers.
Fighting between local communities believed to be backed by rival army commanders in Ulang County, also in Upper Nile, resulted in the killing of at least eight people on Sunday.
Speaking during the CTSAMVM meeting in which the body’s chair made the security assessment, Bior said the report about the ceasefire holding in the country is misleading, citing the clashes in Nasir and another in Western Equatoria State’s capital, Yambio.
“If you have tensions in Nassir and you have a violation or fighting in Matat, Uror County and also you have a new tension that arises since yesterday and this morning in Yambio, these are serious violations,” he said.
“So, you don’t call it ceasefire is holding because when the bullet that you fire from the gun, that bullet is already a violation,” he added.
Bior emphasized the need for the CTSAMVM to consult and inquire from the ground and provide formal updates on incidents to the signatories of the revitalized peace agreement and responsible bodies.
Bitew announced that a joint investigative and mediation approach would be formed to reduce tensions between the youths and SSPDF forces in Nassir County, following the reports of armed fighting and civilian displacement.
Fund Deployment of Peace Forces
The CTSAMVM head also continued the body’s call on the government to implement and support the necessary bodies needed for the deployment of the graduated unified forces, as only a handful out of the 53,000 graduated forces have been deployed.
He said that the positive impact of the deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) provided for in the revitalized peace agreement should be reinforced with the necessary resources to enable a wider deployment footprint across the country.
“This approach would also create space within training centers to allow for the implementation of Phase 2 training,” he said.
South Sudan Opposition Alliance’s (SSOA) representative to CTSAMVM Major-General Jany Kawai, questioned the motives behind the delay in the deployment of the NUF.
“The national unified force up to now is not yet deployed. So, what is the reason? We need to know exactly why phase one is not deployed,” he said, stressing that the delay is a disruption to the peace agreement and a cause for insecurities in some areas across the country.
South Sudan’s unity government, formed in February 2020 as per the revitalized peace agreement signed in 2018, had announced in March that the training of peace forces in phase two was to begin as soon as deployment of those graduated is completed.
However, this is now pending, and only less than 4000 of the forces graduated have been deployed, even without guns. The government has blamed the deployment without weapons on an arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council to maintain peace in the country.
