By Bida Elly David
The deployment of SSPDF soldiers by South Sudan to DR Congo has made the status of the Country’s peace to be questioned as military and political experts blame the Country’s leadership against failure to restore amity back home before thinking of aiding another Country to meet stability.
Speaking to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, James Boboya, a political analyst said that the Country made a correct decision for deploying the forces but restoring peace first within the nation would have been a first priority the military would have done to gain global trust.
He said the government lack clarity over the actual statistics of the SSPDF forces to Congo as well as their mobility to their destination since one group was airlifted and another traveled on land through Western Equatoria.
Boboya said the earlier statistics of 750 forces was contradicted with the latest statistics of over 1,000 SSPDF forces for the peace mission to the Eastern Congo by the concerned body.
“There is no clarity from the government concerning the 750 SSPDF forces deployed to Congo because what we know, these forces were travelling from Juba to Maridi via Mundri and they are supposed to go to Congo and it appears to some reasons that these forces haven’t arrived,” he said.
The Political commentator said the government has always been known for lack of transparency to the people in terms of information that relates to defense and security.
He said that the positivity for the deployment of the forces would enable the Country to generate foreign currencies as means to back-up its recessed economy.
“In the other way, the forces being in Congo is a good news to government of South Sudan since they will be earning money from that and use it as a bargaining process with countries within the region,” he noted.
Moreover, Boboya underlined that the Country still faces numerous tragedies such as cattle rustling, intercommunal violence, highway ambushes yet government was able to get well trained soldiers for Congo mission.
“How can you continue to suffer and yet you give food to your neighbor, so you better clean your house first before you talk about your neighbor. I think those are the issues that first need to be addressed by the government and the people of South Sudan,” he argued.
The analyst stressed that prevailing security within a home Country must be prioritized before having chance to help the region.
In response to the critique, the SSPDF spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang said that South Sudan is carrying a mandate given by the regional administration to help its neighbor from the chaos of conflict noting that peace will prevail in South Sudan.
He said that deploying forces for a peacekeeping mission has got nothing to do with critics rather hoping for peace in Africa especially countries within the East African region.