Government troops have started arriving at the Panyier military training centre on the outskirts of Bor town, Jonglei State.
The process of gathering forces into military training camps across South Sudan with a view to forming a unified army is a cornerstone of the peace deal.
The transportation of troops to the military training centres is being carried out by the Joint Military Ceasefire Commission (JMCC), a mechanism responsible for oversight and coordination of forces in cantonment sites and military barracks.
Brigadier General Riek Bim Top, a member of the JMCC, told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that 1,590 forces from the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) have already moved to Panyier.
“1,590 registered soldiers from 8th and 10th infantry divisions are currently in Panyier,”Riek said.
The army general further said their troops started moving to Panyier since Wednesday. Bim pointed out that the training of the necessary unified forces will be completed before mid-February.
“The training will hopefully start in the next 3 days. We are just waiting for opposition forces coming from Boma State,” he said.
The army general however revealed that the Panyier military training camp has yet to receive food supplies. “We have 9 boreholes for water at Panyier. We still lack food at the site but there is a committee working on the matter,” he said.
The rival parties have twice failed to form the transitional government, first in May 2019 and then in November the same year, when they agreed to a 100-day-long extension to resolve outstanding issues and form a unity government by 22 February 2020.