Sep 7, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — South Sudan’s Minister of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, Hon. Angelina Teny, has traveled to Western Bhar el Ghazal State to inspect training of the United Forces.
Hon. Teny was received by the governor of Western Bhar el Ghazal State, Hon. Sarah Cleto Rial, a senior member of the SPLM/A-IO, in a historic ceremony that saw a huge turnout from both the civilians of Western Bhar el Ghazal and the military.
“It was an honour to have received and accompanied the Honorable Minister of Defence, Madame Angelina Teny, in her visits to Wau on September 5th, 2020.” Hon. Sarah Cleto Rial said.
According to Hon. Sarah Cleto, the governor and the Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs have visited the training sites in Mapel today.
“Vsiting the National Army at the Mapel Training Centre, with Hon. Minister of Defense. We were honored by the women with gifts of gourds and lulu(shae) oil. We are proud of our local products. ” Hon. Sarah Cleto said.
Speaking to media from Wau, Hon. Teny confirmed that she is there to visit training centers in Western Bhar el Ghazal.
” We are visiting training centres in Western Bahr el Ghazal here. We have Masna Biira centre for the organized forces, there is Pantiit centre for the army, and then we would go to visit the officers in Mapel.” Hon. Teny said in a media report.
Hon. Teny stressed that the government is working on a timetable to see the forces graduating and therefore she had to verify their preparedness in person.
“The purpose of the visit is to inspect the centres because we are now working on the timetable for graduations, so we want to see the state of preparedness of the forces,” Teny continued.
Hon. Teny, the wife to the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, was appointed in February this year and since her appointment, many reports have been released speculating that the forces are ready to be graduated; however, this seems to be taking a while.
The training of a 83, 000 unified force is a mandatory requirement for security arrangement of the new country that is attempting to emerge from a seven-year long civil war.
This process was expected to commence at the beginning of the pre-transitional period and finalized within the first six months from September 12, 2018 but due to lack of political will and financial constraints, this protocol, among numerous others, is yet to be implemented.
Hon. Sarah Cleto Rial, who is currently one of the most active governors, is the first female governor of her state and the only female governor in the current peace agreement representing what would be 35% for South Sudanese women in gubernatorial positions.
