Top army generals convene 8th command council as insecurity escalates

JUBA – Top commanders of South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) are meeting in the capital Juba to deliberate on different contentious issues in the country amid escalating insecurity largely in Upper Nile state with Kiir urging the army to protect civilians.

The 8^th Command Council Conference of the South Sudan People’s Defence Force was opened by President Salva Kiir Mayardit in Bilpam on Thursday in presence of the minister of defense Angelina Teny and army chief of defense forces Gen. Santino Deng Wol.

The three-day event is expected to deliberate on a number of strategic objectives, including reviewing the progress in the implementation of the security arrangements as well as recommending the SSPDF transition into a professional and conventional defense institution, according to a presidency statement.

“The Command Council also discussed the operationalization and progress in the SPLA/SSPDF legal framework while evaluating the SSPDF implementation of the resolutions and recommendations of its previous Command Council conferences,” the statement said.

Kiir directed the army to protect civilians by deploying the necessary unified forces which were graduated recently, stressing that the extension of the transitional period  by consensus by the parties is in itself and achievement.

“The parties to the Agreement signed the Roadmap 2022 in September this year. This document was negotiated by the parties themselves without external direction. That alone was itself an achievement,” Kiir told the Bilpam generals.

“Along with this political process, we expect the military leadership to complement it by working on, streamlining deployment of the necessary unified forces, commencing phase II of the training of the remaining unified forces and building on the success already made in the process of the unification,” he added.