The military spokesman for the SPLA-IO, Col Lam Paul, spoke to The City Review where he denied reports that their soldiers had rejected the plan to deploy unified forces with sticks. A local online media had reported that the SPLA-IO officers had grown cold feet and were not keen to yield to the idea of turning at their deployment centres with sticks, as had been announced by the government. The government had alleged a lack of weapons to arm the officers.
A section of the news report read: “The forces were summoned to come to the assembly site. Before the deployment announced by the government last month, they were reluctant to do so because they did not want to be deployed with sticks.”
According to Sudan Post, a senior officer in the SPLM-IO expressed his strong rejection of the idea of deploying troops with sticks, saying that most people rejected the invitation extended to them to come to the training centres because of the government’s plan.
Fair enough that the SPLA-IO military spokesperson clarified things. But the report sent a contrary stand to what the government had declared. If there were divisions of opinion on the subject of deployment, perhaps the official government spokesman, Michael Makuei, could have made it clear in his press statement more than a week ago.
But whatever it is, the government parties must be careful and contain any disagreements that may arise regarding the implementation of security arrangements, and the two parties must reach an agreement on that, before moving forward.
It is necessary to take the view of military officers seriously since they specialise in the military field more than politicians. This will help in preventing problems before they occur. The process of deploying forces will play a great an important role since the country is now witnessing the last tasks of the transitional period, which will end with elections, after which a new period will begin with an elected government whose most important strength in stability will be the unified forces under one command.
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