The Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM). which includes military commanders from South Sudan’s government and rebels, is assessing areas 25 kilometres outside Juba to move SPLA units as part of demobilizing the city as agreed in the peace deal signed in August last year.
CTSAMM is part of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) which is overseeing implementation of the peace deal.
Ramadan Hassan, the deputy head of SPLM-IO advance team in Juba, told Radio Tamazuj that a team from CTSAMM which includes military commanders had visited sites that were previously identified as military camps for regular forces. He added that the inspection visit will last for three days.
The delegation visited sites located along the Nimule-Torit road and Torit-Mangala road on Tuesday, according to Ramadan. He further said the CTSAMM team also visited proposed military barracks along the Kajokeji-Yei road on Wednesday.
Ramadan added that the delegation would conclude its inspection visit by assessing military barracks located along the Terekeka-Juba road today Thursday.
The SPLM-IO member indicated that the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), a body tasked to overseeing the implementation of peace agreement, is ready to support the establishment of new military barracks outside Juba.
SPLA army leadership said earlier that the new army bases were not ready to receive troops due to a lack of services including water supply in those identified sites.
In late September last year, SPLA Chief of General Staff Paul Malong and the head of the Presidential Guards Marial Chanuong with the help of a GPS company unilaterally marked the coordinates of locations outside Juba.