The Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) on Monday announced plans to reduce the number of its staff due to lack of money.
Speaking during an extraordinary board meeting on Monday in Juba, Maj. Gen. Hailu Gonfa Eddosa, the chairperson of the Mechanism, said that due to the lack of funding, the number of the Monitoring and Verification Team (MVT) employees will be reduced from 8 to 6.
According to Gen. Eddosa, the downsizing shall also affect the CTSAMVM headquarters as the staff there will also be reduced, without mentioning exactly how many will be affected at the headquarters in Juba.
“Due to reduction in donor support, CTSAMVM will also be downsizing in January and the number of MVT will be reduced from 8 to 6, and there will also be a reduction in the number of headquarters staff,” he revealed.
The Chairperson acknowledged that this reduction in the number of staff is going to cause a lot of challenges for the but called on the members to bear with CTSAMVM as it tries to manage the little resources availed by the donors and peace partners.
“This reduction will create further challenges for the mission. Please understand that we will all have to learn to manage with considerably few resources” he stressed. “However, I am confident that we will continue to fulfill our mandate provided that we have the full cooperation and understanding in the CTSAMVM body.”
This comes after national staff of the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) downed tools over unpaid arrears.
Gen. Eddosa however said the challenges of strikes coupled with donor fatigue have resulted in delays in publishing about nine of the Mechanism’s reports.
“There are currently nine CTSAMVM reports which have not been published due to administrative issues with several more in the pipeline,” he stated.