National army to form a unified arms command next week
The National Transitional Committee or NTC is urging parties to the peace agreement to submit the list of their nominees for the security forces command.
The co-chairs of the Joint Defense Board said at a news conference today that they are looking forward to the unification of the forces.
Lieutenant General Thoi Choi Reat, deputy Chief of South Sudan’s Defense Forces and co-chair of the Joint Defense Board, says the recent agreement by the parties on the security mechanisms should speed up the formation of the command structure and graduation of forces.
“We urge the mechanism to speed up the process of graduation of the forces and to similarly spare no efforts in preparing for Phase Two of the unification of the forces.” He said.
“On behalf of CDF and the command of SSPDF, we direct all forces to cease the hostilities and uphold the secession of the hostilities agreement, Long Live South Sudan, Long Live SSPDF, Long Live all of us,” Reat added.
Earlier before the news conference, Tut Kew Gatluak, head of the National Transitional Committee, said the unified command structure of the army will be formed starting next week. He said the commanders will then go to the training centers to finalize the graduation of the unified forces.
General Julius Tabuley, a co-chair of the Joint Defense Board representing the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, says the screening of forces has been completed.
“What is left technically undone is the graduation of those forces, the figures are there, they’re about 50,000 altogether in the training centers and these include the army, national security, police, prisons, wildlife and fire brigade or civil defense,” gen. Tabuley said.
“The issue of ranks has been worked upon, that’s how the unification process was done,” the SSOA general added.
On Thursday, deadly clashes broke out between the SPLA–IO and the Kit–gwang faction under the command of General Simon Gatluak in the Mirmir and Mayen areas of Unity state.
Lieutenant General Gabriel Duop Lam, acting Chief of General Staff of the SPLA–IO and co-chair of the Joint Defense Board, says the security mechanism board will dispatch a committee to stop the fighting.
“The issue of insecurity in Koch and areas of Maiwut need to be addressed urgently by the JDB, and I want to tell you that we are going to have a small meeting at the level of command of the two forces and our security apparatus so that we form a committee to go down and seize the fire,” Lam said.
The recent clashes in Unity state left 32 people dead. Officials say nearly 300 head of cattle were stolen and several houses in villages in and around Mirmir were also set on fire.
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