Chris Trott, the UK ambassador to South Sudan speaks to Eye Radio on Dec 7, 2019. Okot Emmanuel/Eye Radio

The UK Ambassador to South Sudan says he has been misunderstood in a statement he gave during an interview with Eye Radio in Juba on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Eye Radio carried a part of the interview in which the diplomat raised concerns over the absence of the expected number of government soldiers at the VIP training site in Gorom, near Juba.

“You have the opposition forces gathering but not enough government forces,” Amb. Christopher Trott said after he visited the training site.

However, Amb. Trott reacted to the article, saying he was “misunderstood”.

“My concern was that there are discrepancies across the country of numbers at training sites. These need to be balanced for training to succeed,” he wrote on Twitter.

“I was impressed by the presence of large numbers of government troops in Gorom.”

I am sorry but I have been misunderstood. I was impressed by the presence of large numbers of government troops in Gorom. My concern was that there are discrepancies across the country of numbers at training sites. These need to be balanced for training to succeed. https://t.co/uPNIBZj25S

— Chris Trott (@ChrisTrott) January 17, 2020

In June last year, the parties agreed to a 12,000 VIP protection unit which is part of the 83,000 necessary Unified Force.

The VIP Protection Unit will be in charge of providing security to officials of the revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity which is expected to be formed 36 days from now.

In October 2019, more than 400 SPLA IO soldiers arrived in Juba to undergo training as part of the VIP Protection Unit.

The unit is drawn from the SSPDF, the SPLA-IO and forces from the Opposition Alliance.