South Sudan struggles to merge armed forces under peace deal

South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar agreed to form a unity government last Saturday, paving the way towards ending more than six years of war that has left at least 400,000 dead and forced 4 million from their homes.
As part of the compromise, the country’s parliament endorsed the incorporation of the 10 states and three administrative areas into the constitution.
However, key issues of the 2018 power-sharing deal are yet to be completed. One of the biggest challenges that remain is merging of both government and opposition forces into the country’s military.
The soldiers come from different sides, and are not in equal numbers, as they are supposed to be according to the deal. The opposition says it is difficult to transport soldiers from their areas to the training centers, which are in poor conditions. The army also complains it has only received a small part of the funds for the training.
On Thursday, the same day the rival leaders agreed to proceed with implementing the peace deal, the UN released a new report. It finds that all sides of the conflict were guilty of starving their citizens and that the government had embezzled funds that could have gone toward humanitarian support.