Südsudan

South Sudan’s unity government has begun unifying rival armed groups in a programme meant to create a professional military for the country. On Tuesday, Juba witnessed the first unification exercise after more than 20,000 armed fighters graduated from months-long training to transition to professional soldiers.

A rebel movement led by South Sudan’s former army chief of staff, Gen Paul Malong Awan has threatened full military operations after the alleged capture of one of their top field commanders. … SSUF is one of the holdout groups participating in the Rome peace process.

A group of “like minded” South Sudanese stakeholder have “categorically” reject the extension by the parties of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) period.

The Troika and European Union (EU) member states have welcomed South Sudan’s leaders’ commitment to the full implementation of the September 2018 revitalised peace agreement. Last week, five South Sudanese political parties to the September 2018 peace deal signed a roadmap extending the current transitional period for two additional years, citing failure to complete critical benchmarks as agreed.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has expressed concerns that cases of conflict-related sexual violence are emerging, despite a decline in the number of civilians affected by violence across the country.

[…] The September 2018 revitalized peace agreement requires the parties to train and graduate a unified force of 83,000 personnel to take charge of security during the transitional period until 2023 when elections are held. The unification of the army has been delayed amid missed deadlines.

South Sudan opposition parties and government have agreed to fully implement the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) and ensure all armed forces and its affiliates under its command and control at all times observe the CoHA, particularly provisions of prohibited acts.

Setting a timetable for South Sudan’s general elections requires international support, a top United Nations official said. … Haysom said it was difficult for anybody to help when there is no timetable to guide the process and commitment from the international community.

With eight months remaining, the window of opportunity is closing for South Sudan to meet critical benchmarks required to complete its transition away from long-running civil conflict, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Monday, pressing parties to the November 2018 peace deal, to implement their commitments in letter and spirit.

Adeyinka Badejo-Sanogo, WFP Acting Country Director in South Sudan, said they had planned to provide food assistance to 6.2 million people this year, “but faced with increasing humanitarian needs and insufficient funding, we have taken the painful step to suspend food assistance to 1.7 million people.