Hollow Promises: The Risks of Military Integration in Western Equatoria

Flora McCrone

Overview

The 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) calls for the integration of combatants from South Sudan’s three key warring parties into a new ‘unified’ army. The process, however, has led to new sources of insecurity. This Briefing Paper explores the ways in which the R-ARCSS risks producing a national military structure that is potentially both too large and too fractious to be a viable vehicle for peace. The paper presents the case of the Arrow Boys militia in Western Equatoria state, which has been drawn into the conflict as a result of unrealistic promises made to them to affiliate with opposition forces; their involvement demonstrates how the integration process is leading to a deterioration in local security, community cohesion, and stability.

Key findings

The implementation of the R-ARCSS transitional security arrangement has given rise to illegal recruitment drives of new combatants by warring parties across the country since September 2018.

Cantonment and military integration processes have failed to invest adequate time and resources into reconciling, training, and fully ‘integrating’ opposing armed forces, recreating the conditions that previously proved explosive during South Sudan’s civil wars in 2013 and 2016.

In Western Equatoria state—as well as other parts of the country—the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO) has used the prospect of cantonment, military integration, and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) to attract new recruits. The rank and file, however, are unlikely to benefit from these measures; their disillusionment is a significant risk factor for renewed violence.

Recruitment drives have caused considerable damage to community cohesion, resilience, and customary authority— already impaired by previous waves of recruitment following earlier South Sudanese peace agreements.

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