The parties to the South Sudanese peace agreement have missed a 1 March target for deployment of opposition SPLA-IO troops in Juba as part of security arrangements for a new power-sharing government.
Last week the international committee responsible for overseeing implementation of the peace deal, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), had announced that it would seek to ensure that 1,370 SPLA-IO troops arrived to Juba within the week.
Western powers offered to help airlift the SPLA-IO troops from opposition-held areas to the capital. JMEC said this would pave the way from the return of opposition leader Riek Machar to take up his post as first vice president.
Ramadan Hassan Bako, the deputy head of the SPLM-IO advance team in Juba, blames JMEC for the delay.
He says that JMEC failed to adhere to its timetable on the transportation of armed opposition forces to Juba.
“If there is any delay in the formation of the transitional government, the reason is JMEC because we had given them all the information last week,” said Ramadan.
For his part, SPLA-IO military spokesman William Gatjiath Deng says their troops have not arrived as scheduled because the South Sudanese government failed to designate cantonment areas for them and food and medical care facilities for the troops.
He also said the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) has yet to get guarantees from the Ethiopian government to allow the rebels passage through Ethiopia with their light weapons.
Gatjiath said that assembly points for SPLA-IO troops to go to Juba by flight included Gambella in Ethiopia, which is about three days footing from the rebel base at Pagak.
According to South Sudan’s peace agreement, most of the government troops in Juba will withdraw except for some presidential guards, base guards and a joint police force.
The number of military troops in Juba and National Security Service personnel will be limited to 4,830 only, including 3,420 from the government side and 1,410 from the SPLM-IO side.
A group of Joint Integrated Police will also deployed in Juba with 1,500 from each side for a total of 3,000 joint police.
The parties have agreed that arrival of 1,370 opposition troops in Juba, including 700 for the joint police force, will be enough to secure the return of Riek Machar. The remainder of the SPLA-IO forces will come later.
Photo: SPLA troops assembling in Juba for withdrawal from the city, February 2016 (Radio Tamazuj)