September 6th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The ceasefire monitoring body, CTSAMM, has voiced grave concern about the recent clashes between Non-signatory groups and the SSPDF forces in Aweil East, Raja and Yei River State respectively.
Speaking at the 14th CTSAMVM Technical Committee Meeting held in Juba on Thursday, the Chairperson of the CTSAMM, Maj. Gen. Desta Abiche Ageno noted that the ceasefire continues to hold with no reported incidents of clashes between the Parties to the Revitalized Agreement.
However, the ceasefire monitors expressed concern over military confrontations between non-signatories and government forces that escalated in different parts of the country, saying that these reports of violations are disturbing and should be investigated.
“These incidents are a matter of concern. They are being investigated by CTSAMVM, and we will discuss the findings from our investigation into Aweil East here today,” General Desta said.
“CTSAMM continues to monitor the overall security situation and reports of tension in order to encourage early mediation to prevent escalation,” he added.
The CTSAMVM Committee welcomed the recent communique issued by the IGAD Council of Ministers in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
“The cantonment process remains slow and CTSAMVM welcomes the IGAD Council of Ministers’ communique resolving that at least 50 per cent of the 83,000 Necessary Unified Forces should be cantoned and barracked, trained and deployed before the end of September,” said CTSAMM.
The ceasefire observers appreciated the JMCC for conducting Cantonment Registrations and called on the government to speed up the cantonment process.
“CTSAMVM congratulates the JMCC on the launch of Cantonment Registration and Screening, an important tool in ensuring the cantonment process is both timely and orderly. We urge the parties to redouble their efforts to fully operationalize the cantonment process including registration and screening, in order to achieve the training of the Necessary Unified Forces and redeployment of those forces,” the body said.
The ceasefire monitoring body admitted that a large number of forces have already gone to their assembly areas, however, issues to do with logistical assistance remain a formidable challenge.
“CTSAMVM acknowledges an increasing number of troops have moved to cantonment areas. However, many challenges remain, and Commanders consistently report to our MVTs that inadequate logistical support continues to impede the full deployment of their forces to cantonment sites,” the statement added.
