South Sudan’s Minister of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs Angelina Teny is currently in Wau town of Western Bahr el Ghazal State to inspect training of the unified forces.

Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Wau town on Friday, Minister Angelina said:” 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.”

“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,” she added.   

This was the defense minister’s first visit to Western Bahr el Ghazal since she was appointed in the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity in February 2020.

The process of gathering government and opposition forces into training sites with a view to forming a unified army is a cornerstone of the 2018 peace agreement.

At least 83,000 unified forces are expected to form the national army.

The graduation of the much-awaited unified forces has been delayed due to logistical and financial constraints. According to observers, the full implementation of the security arrangements is crucial to the peace process in South Sudan.