September 29th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s parties have agreed to reduce the size of the army which has been criticized by the army as one of the largest military in the region according to a document obtained by the Nyamilepedia.
Currently, the army is composed of hundreds of thousands of personnel and more than 12 divisions.
According to the document agreed by the SPLA and SPLA-IO representatives at the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangement And Monitoring Mechanism, the parties have agreed that the army will be reduced to 11 divisions beginning from the eight months pretransitional period.
The new army will include six divisions during the phase one and five during the phase two of the integration process.
Manana Peter Gatkuoth told the Nyamilepedia that the parties have agreed the there is no a national army in South Sudan. He said neither the SPLA nor the SPLA-IO is a national army and as such the two parties have agreed to establish a professional army of 11 divisions.
He said the parties have agreed to the establishment of cantonment sites beginning from the in October where the forces will be trained the formed together to form a unified army.
