By Bida Elly David
The President of the Republic of South Sudan has directed the Ministry of Defense to invest much effort on improving the welfare of the national forces by prioritizing health care and other crucial services.
This development arose during a meeting between the national Minister of Defense and President Salva Kiir to discuss key issues regarding the country’s security issues and how the loopholes could be transformed into a better state.
Recently, a civil society activist said that soldiers at the cantonment and training zones have started evicting the centers due to lack of proper care, provision of food, medical services and delay of their graduation. The activist predicted that continuous exit of soldiers from the training areas would not stop until their demands were prioritized.
President Kiir encouraged the national Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs to work towards making footsteps on how the deliverables for the improvement of the army’s welfare could be executed empirically.
He pointed out that it was crucial for the forces to be well taken care of through provision of necessary logistics and other crucial services to enable them work with much interest and efforts.
He also directed the Minister of Defense to speedily work on the preparation of the army that will soon join the East African forces to be deployed in Congo.
Speaking to the press yesterday, Angelina Teny said they discussed ways through which accommodation for senior officers as well as some officers in the army could be improved.
Furthermore she reiterated that they have finished working on the national security policy framework meant to develop a strategy for transforming the organized forces into well set and affirmative body for the security improvement of the country.
At the same note, Angelina condemned the extrajudicial killing that transpired in Mayom County of Unity State and underscored that the act was an injustice against lives and was unacceptable.
“I am strongly condemning the extrajudicial killing that happened in Mayom County of Unity State. It was not justice and not acceptable and tolerated. We have military justice where when someone is arrested and is a culprit and due process of investigation takes place, they are tried and the trial passes the judgment. We don’t do summary execution,” she said.
She said the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) in consultation with the Commanders in Chief will investigate the heinous act in Mayom County of Unity State.