SPLA-IO soldiers in a cantonment site in Equatoria region | Credit | Courtesy

Soldiers at the cantonment sites across the country may soon receive food and shelter materials after the first consignment of the items started arriving into the country from China on Tuesday.

According to the National Pre-Transitional Committee, trucks carrying supplies meant to support forces assembled at the training sites arrived into the country from the Port of Mombasa, Kenya.

The NPTC is yet to facilitate the training, unification and deployment of forces across the country.

So far, the majority of the forces have been cantoned, but some have complained about lack of food and other facilities -including shelter.

The government recently availed only $10 million to facilitate the work of NPTC, short of the $100 million it pledged in May.

Officials said the budget can be reduced if the NPTC receives material support such as; tents, food, medicines and military uniforms, among others.

In response, China has donated about 1,500 metric tons of some of these items.

The trucks loaded with the supplies were handed over to the NPTC on Tuesday in Juba.

“The benefit of this contribution will complement the effort of the government on the issue of the cantonment and the training sites,” said William Loch, a member of the NPTC Secretariat.

In 2015, China also donated- to the forces -prefab houses, military tents, blankets, mosquito nets, diesel and solar generators.

“This is half of the donation, they said the rest is on the way –including medicines, blankets and the tents,” Mr. Loch added.