Gen. Kuol Manyang Juuk, Chairman, National Transitional Committee and Senior Presidential Advisor - Credit: Office of the President - August 31, 2022

 The Chairperson of National Transitional Committee (NTC) has outlined its $95-million work plan to complete the security arrangements within nine months starting March 2025.

Gen. Kuol Manyang said the NTC and all the security mechanisms have worked out the action plan for the training of at least 150,000 unified forces in phase two with a total budget of $95,415,588.

Gen. Manyang, also a presidential advisor and head of government delegation to the Tumaini Initiative, made the remarks ahead of the commencement of a two-year transitional period on Saturday.

According to him, the training process is expected to start on 1st March through to 30th November of the year 2025.

Addressing the 39th plenary meeting of peace monitoring body R-JMEC on Thursday, Gen. Manyang said funding of the plan is crucial and urgently needed within the specified time frame.

“The NTC and all the security mechanisms have worked out the action plan for the training of the least of at least 150,000 unified forces in phase two with a total budget of US dollars 95,415,588 US dollars,” he said.

“I am working with NTC board members to bring to the attention of the leadership of this country, the presidency, that funding of the plan is crucial and urgently needed within the specified time frame. We have nine-month time frame, 1st March to 30th November 2025 to do the job and we have days ahead to get the funding.”

The NTC chairperson has assured stakeholders of transparency and accountability in the use of the budget. He added that the committee is working on rules and procedures governing the operation and management of the fund.

“We are currently working to produce new rules and procedures governing the operation of NTC and management of funds. This is to ascertain transparency and accountability.”

In August 2024, the outgoing interim chairperson of peace monitoring mechanism R-JMEC said most of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) in training and cantonment sites had deserted their bases due to lack of food, water shelter and medicines.

Amb. Charles Tai Gituai revealed that since the graduation of 53,000 unified forces in phase one, only 7 percent of the 83,000 combatants have been deployed.

Gituai added that majority of the graduated forces and those yet to be trained were left waiting in the cantonment sites without the basic necessities.

He said the harsh condition, according to the peace observer, has forced most of them to abandon their camps. Mr. Gituai attributed the delay in the deployment and commencement of the 2^nd phase of training to the continuous lack of funding.