The ceasefire monitoring body, CTSAM-VM says it is investigating serious allegations of civilians’ harassment especially the actions of some SSPDF units in Gondokoro in Juba County.

In its technical committee meeting Wednesday morning, the body said some of the harassment of civilians by military forces.

But “one of the more serious allegations concerns the actions of some SSPDF units during a disarmament exercise in Gondokoro.”

CTSAM-VM said it work to write violation reports so that remedial action can be taken, and those responsible can be held to account.

“Although CTSAM-VM continues to investigate a number of allegations, some of which involved the harassment of civilians by military forces, one of the more serious of these allegations concerned the actions of some SSPDF units during a disarmament exercise in Gondokoro.

“CTSAM-VM writes violation reports so that remedial action can be taken, and those responsible can be held to account. CTSAMVM is concerned that one of the reports we will discuss today concerns another killing of unarmed civilians by SSPDF soldiers.

“Four out of the nine reports we discussed at the last meeting concerned similar incidents; the SSPDF must review the training of its soldiers and take action to stop these tragic occurrences.

Arround mid-January, the Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs  apologized for what he terms as mistakes that occurred during the December 2023 disarmament exercise in Juba County.

The disarmament operations that kicked off on Christmas and New Year’s Eve in the capital and its surroundings have since been mired with allegations of harassment and displacement of civilians.

On 31st December 2023, local chiefs in Gondokoro Payam of Central Equatoria State said armed forces stormed the area and assaulted the villagers during the disarmament exercise in the area.

Four traditional authorities were reported arrested and detained at an army base for days before they were released.

The disarmament force later announced that it recovered 300 firearms including heavy machine guns in Gondokoro.

However, a local chief refuted the allegations, arguing that only five guns were collected.