Why unified forces are yet to graduate-Teny

The Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs Angeline Teny (pictured) has revealed that the quest to graduate the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) has remained a daunting challenge in her docket since she took over in March 2020.

But she said it is a task that she is committed to overcome by all means possible.

In her one-on-one interview with state-owned TV station SSBC on Monday, March 15, Teny talked vastly about her entry into what she described as ‘intimidating but accommodating docket’, which she perceived to be the key to finishing the implementation of 2018 peace deal.

Her interview came at a time that partners in the implementation of the peace have called on the transitional unity government to fast-track the graduation and deployment of the 48,000 soldiers.

Stakeholders such as the civil society groups, Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), Intergovernmental Authority on Development IGAD and UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have faulted the slow pace in the graduation of forces and the squalid conditions the trainees have been subjected to in the camps.

They have underlined the importance of having a unified force for protection as the masterstroke for implementing Chapter Two of the R-ARCSS which touches transitional national security. Teny read from the same script.

She said for the country to make strides in the peace deal, the nagging questions about the graduation and deployment of forces must be properly addressed.

‘‘One day one time the people of South Sudan will be proud of their army…We will get there but it is not going to be easy,’’ she told SSBC.

Challenges

Asked when the long awaited graduation is likely to happen, the minister cut a calmly look, composed herself and said: ‘‘that is a difficult question because it also depends on the economic situation.’’

Although she did not quote figures on what the government would need to address the security puzzles; the minister said it would require a lot of resources to graduate, transport and pay atleast one month salary of the officers.

The other challenge she talked about was on the need to streamline their deployment, adding that only 29,000 of them were of neutral military inclination and the rest were not.

According to Teny, the country wants to professionalise the force and equip the graduates with modern military skills. This would necessitate resources like having medical insurance schemes and study arrangements for the officers and their families.

She mentioned Rwanda as a prime example of a country that went into war, rose from the ruins of destruction and unified men and women to build one of the best military forces in the East African region.

‘‘Rwanda has been to hell and back, and if Rwanda was able to unite those who butchered one another, then I believe we can do it,’’ she commented.

She joked that the government could resort to graduating the forces with sticks if guns are not available at the moment. At the same time, she rubbished the notion that the country was running out of guns. Teny revealed the plan to use a diversified approach in disarming the communities.

‘‘Forced disarmament doesn’t work and voluntary [one works but] takes longer to succeed,’’ she said, as she added that the state could employ an approach that renders certain arms in the hands of the communities useless.

Stakeholders letting up?

So urgent is the need to address the chapter two of the peace agreement that international peace organisations have started planting doubts on the commitment of the government, the minister lamented.

She gave an instance where some unnamed organisations have started giving comments about how state institutions are corrupt and have withdrawn wholesome support to the security arrangements and resorted to only technical ones.

For instance, she quoted a certain organisation she did not name saying that it could not give funds for the forces without a surety that they officers would not return to war.

In January 29, 2020, RJMEC cited rampant defections as possible factors that would undermine the implementation of the peace deal.

‘‘Unified forces signify the National Unity and a symbol of nationhood where security forces are loyal to the constitution and to the country with one Commander in Chief who is also the head of State,” said Maj. Gen. Charles Gituai, the commission’s chairperson.

Gitaui spoke after meeting with Teny, where the latter lamented and raised a red flag over the slow pace of the implantation.  

“Transitional Security Agreements simply must not fail, if it fails then there is no agreement and if there is no agreement, I think we are all aware of the situation in pre of this agreement; it is not a situation that anybody would dare” she said.