Authorities in Yei River State have declined to approve the troops’ assembly site and training of unified forces in Kendila and Moroto areas, a senior opposition official said.

Last week, the Joint Defence Board (JDB) identified Moroto area as a training centre and Kendila area as a cantonment site of opposition forces in an effort to push for the full implementation of the security arrangements as stipulated in the peace deal.

The body was planning to start its pilot plan for the training of unified forces in Yei River Sate with at least 3,000 troops.

Lam Paul Gabriel, deputy spokesman of the SPLA, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the state government had raised concerns about the identified areas.

“They have some problems with the cantonment site in Kendila and the training centre in Moroto. They said the proposed training centre is very close to the border and that the two sites are close to civilians,” he said.

He added, “The governor and his cabinet said the cantonment site and the training centre should be far away from civilians. But we told that Moroto was a training centre during South Sudan’s war for independence. Also, Kedila is a very important area and the army can provide protection to the civilians there.”

According to Lam, the Joint Defence Board (JDB) will take a final decision on the matter.

The JDB is tasked with command and control over all forces during the pre-transitional period.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, his former deputy Riek Machar and several opposition groups signed a peace deal in September 2018.