JUBA – A senior South Sudan army commander in the country’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state has said that his soldiers have resorted to farming cultivating sorghum, groundnuts, and okra, among other crops.
Brigadier General James Riak Par, the commander of South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) troops at Raja County of Western Bahr el Ghazal state said his soldiers have resorted to farming as ceasefire continue to hold in the state.
“As SSPDF, we are doing farming activities in the nearest areas around our camp and we are cultivating groundnuts and okra while in the far-flung areas like Hajar Nus and Khor Shamam, we cultivate Dura (Sorghum),” he told Radio Tamazuj in an interview.
“We have a government farm for the army but at the same time, each soldier has got his or her own garden. For the government farm, there are days when we all go to cultivate,” the senor army commander added.
He said that his forces have been living in peace with their counterparts from the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) since the signing of the revitalized peace agreement.
“Our relationship with the SPLA- IO forces is very good since the president of South Sudan signed the peace agreement. Now they visit us in the town and we stay with them till their period of visit ends and they go back. We do not have administrative clashes,” he added.
“If the army has nothing to do, they can turn to farm. We were not forced by anybody and this was an idea existing already in South Sudan because we are farmers and nobody should stay idle when it is the rainy season,” he added.
“We are the Defense forces of South Sudan and those who joined farming did not lay down their weapons but they remain an army and this is just private work to help themselves.”
