The deployment of the unified forces still hangs in the balance, despite the assurance from the government that plans are advanced to finish the process even with no weapons.
At the centre of the chain of promises is the National Transitional Committee (NTC), whose leadership now faces scrutiny over the continued sluggishness running for a year now.
In August 2022, South Sudan graduated more than 20,000 necessary unified forces who successfully completed their basic military training at various centres around Juba in Central Equatoria State.
With other forces graduating in the states, the total number later reached the project 52,000 graduates who are now awaiting deployment. The rest to be trained and graduated in the second phase to make up the 83,000 unified forces will include police, army, and intelligence units, as stated by the 2018 revitalised peace agreement.
However, efforts to deploy forces remain in slow motion as lack of funds and misunderstandings in the division of command among parties remain major challenges.
Meanwhile, the heat is now felt from the head of the Pre-Transitional National Committee to the head of the National Transitional Committee, a body tasked with coordinating activities such as the deployment of forces.
Faced bottlenecks
Just immediately after the graduation of forces before deployment, several cantonment sites were struck by a shortage of food, causing some of the soldiers to leave the sites to save their areas.
Not only that, the committee members reported that they rarely meet, a circumstance believed to have played a role in the delay of the necessary strategic plans of the security sector.
The committee has been instructed by peace parties and the government to expedite the deployment process, although with sticks. However, the committee failed to make a breakthrough due to some circumstances known to them.
Recently, the government received some military support in the form of unified forces from the Turkish government, a move aimed at facilitating the deployment of the unified forces.
But the lingering arms embargo restriction and the disagreement and the inactivity of the NTC in speeding up the deployment processes are believed to be key reasons why forces may not get ready on the ground.
However, in May, the Council of Ministers approved SSP 3.6 billion to facilitate the deployment of the first batch of the necessary unified forces.
Addressing the media after the weekly meeting, the Minister of Information, Michael Makuei, said the Ministry of Finance and Planning had been directed to release the approved amount of SSP 3671,588.1000 immediately.
He said the budget proposal to complete the security arrangement process was presented to the cabinet by the minister of peacebuilding, Stephen Par.
Makuei told reporters that the money would be used for buying food and other arrangements for the deployment of the graduated forces for phase one.
At the time, the transitional government dispatched a convoy of over 100 trucks loaded with essential food supplies to aid the unified forces stationed at various training centres across the country.
However, according to the reports, these food ratios did not reach some intended sites, with others believing that they were not enough to facilitate the deployment process.
Although the clear voice was not quoted by the committee, it is believed that the small food supply is due to a shortage of funds.
The relief supplies, encompassing commodities like sugar, maize, lentils, beans, and rice, were procured by the government to aid in the deployment and training of the second phase of the Unified Forces.
Tut Gatluak Manime, Chairman of the NTC, conveyed during a press briefing that the arrival of this consignment addresses a longstanding challenge concerning food provisions for the armed forces.
He stated that the delivery of food items will undoubtedly expedite the deployment of our graduated unified forces.
Gatluak asserted that these supplies would be methodically stored and subsequently distributed across various regions, including Equatoria, Bahr el Ghazal, and the Upper Nile.
Stephen Par Kuol, Minister for Peacebuilding, emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating, “We have received a total of 97 trucks here; the rest are on the way.
However, till now, the remaining food supplies that were expected to arrive soon have not been delivered as expected by the committee.
According to the NTC, the procurement of these essential provisions was orchestrated by Endeavour General Trading Company. However, details about the awarding of the contract to the company remain undisclosed.
During the handover event, NTC Chairman Tut Gatluak limited media interaction with the company representative, leaving the specifics of the arrangement shrouded in secrecy.
However, some reports show that there has been disagreement between companies supplying logistical items to the forces and NTC over what is believed to be a delay in payment.
To add salt to the wound, the Parliament on the NTC to explain why force deployment could be seen as a basis for the committee to either accept the fault or push it on the next of the principles that are believed to have disagreement over the unified command.
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with The City Review, the spokesperson of the national army and equally the mouthpiece of the Joint Defense Board that oversees security arrangements, Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, said the process is held up by some slight stalemate between the parties.
He said the opposition had rejected the positions that were allotted to them, and up until now they have not been updated about the progress on this matter.
“We have not gone to the second batch yet; we are still having the first batch at training centres awaiting redeployment. And of course, the issue of redeployment is being delayed by about two factors,” he said.
On his part, Puok Baluang, the spokesperson in the office of the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, said their lists of commanders were ready, but there were areas to be agreed on regarding the departments or directorates in the command structure.
“The lists are ready from our side. But we cannot submit our names [if we have not] agreed on the departments or directorates in the unified forces that will be allocated to the SPLM-IO, SSOA, or SSPDF,” he noted.
NTC established
In September 2018, President Salva Kiir appointed Tut Gatluak Manime as chairperson of the National Pre-Transitional Committee (NPTC) to work alongside other eight members in the from the other parties to the peace agreement. However, after the completion of the transitional period, he was also reappointed to the National Transitional Committee (NTC).
In August 2021, the relevant parties to the peace agreement appeared to have reached an agreement on the army command structure, with 60 percent assigned to the SPLM-In Government led by President Salva Kiir and 40 percent to opposition parties.
To date, South Sudan’s transitional government has failed to deploy the first batch of 52,000 unified forces due to disagreements over the ratio of the army command structure and some logistical challenges.
The main opposition group, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in-Opposition (SPLM/A-IO), led by First Vice President Riek Machar, is insisting on a 50 percent share of the command structure, which includes other opposition parties, said Lul Ruai Koang, spokesman of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces.
In April 2022, President Salva Kiir swore in officials whose ranks were confirmed as part of the unified command structure, including Chief of Defense Forces Gen. Santino Deng, Inspector General of Police Gen. Koang Gatkuoth, the Director-General of the National Security Service Gen. Akol Koor, the Director-General of the National Wildlife Service Gen. Khamis Adiang, and the Commissioner of the Civil Defense Forces.
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