UPDF soldiers in a training session.

A senior commander of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces is calling for urgent deployment of the East African Regional Force in South Sudan.

General Wamala Katumba who was speaking during a briefing at the UPDF General Headquarters in Kampala said the cessation of hostilities agreement recently endorsed by President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar is not holding due to lack of an intervention force.

“Is the ceasefire holding? It would need an IGAD intervention force to be in place,” he stressed.

General Wamala said the IGAD forces will ensure that there are no confrontations from either side.

“If IGAD forces are not deployed to compel the two parties to respect the ceasefire, there is a possibility of the clashes happening again,” he added.

He said the Ugandan forces will retreat to the Ugandan border once an IGAD force is deployed.

When an IGAD force is deployed and “there is no vacuum, we shall pull back to our borders”.

The UPDF forces have been fighting alongside the government forces against the SPLA- in Opposition forces since Mid-December.

IGAD member countries have been calling for the deployment of a protection and deterrent force to monitor the cessation of hostilities agreement.

The UN Security Council has endorsed the proposal, but no forces have been put in place yet.