A civil society activist has called for the inclusion of a woman in the new command structure.

The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, said he was very much concerned about the restructuring of the command, especially in regards to the observation of the 35 per cent women’s representation.

According to Yakani, the restructured command is likely to be male-dominated, hence, any exclusion of women would make it even more difficult to address cases of sexual gender-based violence in the country.

“If we do not have a woman in the new restructured command structure, I am worried that we may lose focus on responding to sexual violence,” he said.

 “I am seeing a scenario where the command is going to be male-dominated as if women have not suffered since the conflict of 2013.

“We have conflict-related sexual violence. The harassment, intimidation that happened during the conflict and if we do not have a woman in the new restructured command, the chances of the military and other security institutions putting measures to respond to the sexual violence that happens during the crisis may be very low, “he stated.

The outspoken activist said President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr Riek Machar signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the office of the United Nations Secretary-General Representative on the prevention of sexual violence.

“My concern is that if we do not have a woman there, then the M.O.U signed by President Salva Kiir and FVP Dr. Riek Machar and the UN Secretary-General Representative may be ignored,” Yakani said.

Yakani said one of the things they have noticed is the element of giving excuses in meeting deadlines.

 “As of now, we need to have the restructured command declared by today at the latest, but we fear that the declaration of the restructured command might take us beyond Monday, and we are very much concerned about this. The principles have to meet the deadlines of the security arrangements that they have signed,” Yakani said.