By Taban Henry
The Chairperson of the National Transitional Committee who also doubles as Presidential Advisor on Security Affairs, Tut Gatluack Manime has assured the citizens of South Sudan and the international community that there is no return to war.
The Presidential Advisor made the statement in a press conference yesterday. He said South Sudanese should enjoy their freedom. “We don’t want to return the country to war again but we shall share the military command that is why you have been witnessing a lot of Presidential Decrees from the President of the Republic of South Sudan, he gave positions to the other military parties that are signatories to the peace agreement,” Tut said.
Tut noted that, there have been a lot of disagreements among the parties to the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan in certain sectors of the agreement.
He said that, the opposition parties demanded more share or allocations of positions in the military command. He however said President Kiir was able to understand the situation and the suffering of the people, citing the recent implementation of some parts of the chapters in the peace agreement.
“We are able to unify the command structure by bringing everybody on board mostly those who are part of the peace agreement, bringing forces from different factions under one command structure. All the signatories to the peace agreement need to come together in order to reconcile,” he said.
However, the Presidential Advisor applauded the peace partners who are participating in the implementation of the peace agreement and those who shared the peace talks.
He said all the different factions in the peace agreement are now in one military command under President Salva Kiir Mayardit.
“Nobody will handle the gun unless he or she is a soldier meanwhile for those who are still at the cantonment sites the graduation ceremony is on the way and will take place after the Easter festival” Tut reiterated.
Earlier this week, President Salva Kiir Mayardit issued a Republican order for the unification of the military command and structures for the unified South Sudan National Army, and other departments of the organized forces.
Notably, last week government and the opposition signed an agreement on the sharing ratio of the unified command structures of the unified forces. This reconstitution of the command structures has been one of the disturbing issues holding back the graduation of the necessary unified forces. This would expedite the process of the graduation of the long-awaited unified armed forces.