Update on EDF and SPLA/M Integration

Equatoria Defence Forces (EDF)

For the past month EDF and SPLA military leaders have been locked up in discussions on military integration and our committees met a number of times in Magwi before going to Yei where they recently concluded talks and passed some recommendations on EDF/SPLA military integration.

EDF had refrained from making any statements so that the discussions can go on in a conducive atmosphere. Of course the talks went through many hurdles during these times. There were times when members of SPLA committee were demanding some EDF members be removed from our list and there were times when they wanted some EDF officers be demoted and there were times when they tried to play with the list our commanders gave them. But each time we referred to our signed agreement and the word from the Chairman and C-in-C of SPLM/A when he toured Europe and USA last time; the chairman said that: ” EDF will be integrated with all their ranks”. And so our commanders made it clear to the SPLA commanders involved in the integration talks that the issue of removing or demoting people is out of the question and we will not accept any such deviation from our agreement since we were merging our forces here and we were there to work on equal bases. There was even the case when some none-Equatorian saboteurs wrote and distributed a paper in Yei which called for some specific ethnic group as a whole to leave Equatoria and claiming this document to be from Equatorian commanders. EDF is certain no Equatorian wrote this so called “Grave Warning” and this hoax document was certainly a paper from those wishing to spoil Equatoria’s good relationship with other sectors of Southern communities and also as a means of derailing the EDF/SPLA integration. We acknowledge that Equatoria have many problems being faced today via SPLM/A past practices but we can solve them in other ways such as the present integration. In the end all our officers’ names have now be finalised and the rest is up to the SPLM chairman to sign and pass the list of officers merging with SPLA which will then lead to the integration of our command structure and all EDF soldiers will join the rank and files of SPLA.

Such an announcement hopefully will be coming out soon. But the process does not stop there as then EDF administrative and political leadership are now waiting for discussions to be begin on political and administrative integration. We hope SPLM will take the chance of making sure the donors avail funds for this process to start immediately. Perhaps we could even take the chance to do this during this Ramadan month as Khartoum will certainly take leave from the Nairobi Peace talks for Ramadan as usual.

– Charles Barnaba Kisanga
– Secretary General
– Equatoria Defence Forces (EDF)
– E-mail: [email protected]