JUBA – Fresh demands on the allocation of the necessary national unified forces among signatories to the peace deal could hamper the implementation of the Security Arrangements enshrined in Chapter Two.

This comes after the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), claimed that their counterparts in the SPLM-IG were demanding 60 percent of the unified forces.

Earlier this week, Manawa Peter Gatkuoth, the SPLM-IO Deputy Director for Information and Public Relations who also doubles as the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, said the new demand placed a deadlock on the implementation process.

According to the agreement, the command of the Unified forces should be divided equally because 50 percent of the unified forces come entirely from SSPDF and the remaining 50 percent would be divided among the SPLA-IO, SSOA, and Other Political Parties.

Speaking to City Review SPLM-IO Director for Information and Public Relations Puok Both Baluang said that the division of the unified commands among the parties was agreed upon in the presence of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in 2019 in Juba.

Baluang said the SPLM-IO is committed to the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

“SPLA/M-IO is committed to implementing the agreement in spirit and letter and we called on the president to [commit himself] to the agreement,” said Baluang.

“It was agreed under the supervision of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development that the commands of the unified forces should be 50 – 50 among the parties to the peace agreement. Commanders from the South Sudan People Defence Force [SSPDF] and that from the SPLM-IO have signed the document,” he added.

He said the expertise on the formation is based on the command and the graduation of unified forces.

Based on the revitalized peace agreement signed in Addis Ababa in 2018, all parties shall unify their forces to form a single national army that shall comprise 112,000 strong men with 56,000 from SSPDF under President Kiir and the remaining half shall be divided between SPLA-M-IO under Dr. Riek Machar and South Sudan Opposition Alliance led by Josephine Lagu Yanga.

However, City Review could not reach Government Spokesperson Michael Makuei Lueth is also the Minister of Information, Telecommunication, and Postal Service for comment.

Last week, President Salva Kiir ordered peace partners to have a discussion and agree on the formula for sharing the slots as the unification of the forces beckon.

This was after the SPLM/A-IO was rocked with violence where forces allied to Machar, the party’s chairman, and the Commander-in-Chief, clashed with those pledging allegiance to the former IO chief of staff Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual.

The clash, which happened in Magenis, Upper Nile led to the death of soldiers from the rival camps. Days later, the two sides committed to a ceasefire deal.

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