The Joint Screening and Reorganisation team of the Joint Defense Board (JDB) has arrived in Western Bahr el Ghazal State for the screening of the unified forces in cantonment sites there. 

The screening and reorganization of forces is a prerequisite for the graduation of the required 83,000 unified forces drawn from the various parties to take charge of security during the ongoing transitional period, per the 2018 peace deal.

Addressing the media upon arrival in Wau, the capital of Western Bahr el Ghazal State, the army and committee spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang said the process will kick off on Monday at Masna Biira.

“We will launch the process tomorrow (Monday) in the morning at Masna Biira and after the launching, the military team will split into two, one team will travel to Mapel to go and do reorganization, screening, and putting the necessary unified forces into their respective military formation,” said Koang.

“The second group will proceed to Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Aweil to meet the state officials and then go to Pandtit to undertake the same process,” he added.

Koang said the screening of forces will only take two weeks across the country. 

For his part, the head of the delegation General Garang Ayii Akol said all parties to the 2018 peace deal are represented in the committee. 

"The committee is comprised of 74 members, all of them are officers from all the political parties including SPLA-IO, SSOA, and the leading IG,” he said. “We have come with all forms for the screening. The screening includes the eligibility criteria, if somebody did not meet the requirement, she or he will not qualify for the rank.” 

Gen. Ayii said members of South Sudan’s Disarmament and Demobilization Commission (DDRC) are also in the committee to work with forces who will not have met the eligibility criteria. 

He also called on all forces who had deserted camp to return to the training centers for the exercise, which paves the way for their graduation. 

Other teams have been sent to the Greater Equatoria and Greater Upper Nile regions to screen and reorganize forces there.