South Sudan’s armed opposition says military workshop mishandled
September 24, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudanese armed opposition faction led by former vice president, Riek Machar, has denied responsibility for failure of a military workshop with the government which aimed to reach an agreement on ceasefire implementation and security arrangements as stipulated in the peace agreement signed in August by warring parties in the country.
Issues discussed included declaration of force sizes, cantonment/assembly areas, unified command, joint integrated police, presidential guards and armed forces that would protect barracks, bases and warehouses, among others, in the capital, Juba, and other state capitals.
Government officials following the workshop’s failure to agree on many of the arrangements accused the armed opposition of refusing to sign a document on the matter, which the government and former detainees’ representatives signed in Addis Ababa.
But the opposition group of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by Machar said the signed document was not a resolution but minutes which were not initially shared between the parties.
“There was no final document adopted at the workshop. What happened is that representatives of the government and former detainees initialled the recorded minutes of the debates in the workshop without sharing it with us for deliberations and adoption,” rebel leader’s spokesperson, James Gatdet Dak, told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.
“I think the facilitators mishandled the matter. They should have presented to all the parties the minutes for final deliberation and adoption,” he said.
He said the SPLM-IO only learnt about it from Troika members several hours after the other parties initialled the document.
Dak also said the government was not willing to demilitarize the national capital, Juba, in violation of the security arrangements provisions in the peace deal, saying they were instead asking for an army division or brigades to be stationed inside the capital.
He said the document the government initialled was simply a recording of the suggestions from the parties and not a final agreement on the security arrangements.
The opposition group, he added, suggested the necessity to deploy smaller shared units of joint police and armed forces in Juba and the state capitals.
He however commended IGAD mediation for facilitating the workshop, adding that it will resume any time soon in order to agree on outstanding arrangements. He also stressed the importance of transparency in handling the documents drawn from the workshop.
(ST)