South Sudan parties start screening 53,000 peace forces for graduation

JUBA – The South Sudan Joint Defense Board (JDB), the body charged with overseeing the training and graduation of the necessary unified forces has dispatched a team to embark on screening of forces in 18 training centers across the country.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir in July promised the graduation of the first batch of 53,000 unified troops, but this has not been done due to financial constraints and lack of consensus on the unified army command structure among the parties.

Under the 2018 revitalized peace deal, these forces are charged with taking charge of security during the ongoing transitional period.

Speaking to journalists on Monday at a joined press conference, Maj. Gen Lul Ruai Koang, spokesperson for South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF), said the teams will screen, reorganize and put in military formation the 53,000 soldiers in 18 training centers in Equatoria, Bahr el Ghazal, and Upper Nile regions.

“The main purpose of briefing this morning was for all the three teams representing greater Equatoria, Bahr el Ghazal, and Upper Nile to be briefed on the need to immediately start the processes of screening, reorganization, and putting in military formation the respective necessary unified forces,” Koang told journalists at Monday’s joined press briefing held in military headquarters, Bilpam.

Brig. Gen. WichJang Duop Mathot, spokesperson for the South Sudan Opposition Association (SSOA) called on soldiers who deserted the training sites over the past months to report back for screening.

“I would like to inform all the necessary unified forces to report back to their respective training centers and for the team of greater Upper Nile that I am leading, we leave on Wednesday and I want the forces to go back to their training centers,” Duop said.

Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, Deputy Spokesperson for Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) said the National Transitional Committee (NTC) led by President Salva Kiir’s security advisor Tut Gatluak has released the necessary logistics required to facilitate the screening process.

“We were given some cash by NTC which will be enough for us to be able to go to training centers much it is not enough but it will assist in facilitating the screening process,” Paul told journalists on Monday.