South Sudan Graduates Unified Forces

More than 21,000 members of the armed forces have graduated in South Sudan.

The graduates are part of a unified force that will take charge of the country’s security.

Deadline Extensions
This follows several deadline extensions after the 2018 peace agreement, which requires that all fighting factions lay down their arms and form a joint state army.

Report says many of the troops at the ceremony previously belonged to different fighting factions. But today, they pledged allegiance to their country.

Unified Forces
The unified forces include the army, police, and officers of the prison service.

Defence Minister, Angelina Teny said that her department will now embark on deploying the security forces, and the other batch will graduate in about six months.

Regional leaders, who are guarantors of the peace deal, witnessed the graduation ceremony.

In 2013, war broke out in South Sudan between forces allied to President Salva Kiir and his then deputy Riek Machar. Thousands of civilians were killed, and others displaced.

A peace deal signed in 2018 ended most of the fighting, and it was agreed that about 80,000 troops be trained for a unified security force.

A joint transitional government was formed in 2020, with plans to hold elections in December, but these have been postponed until 2024.

South Sudan is experiencing a fragile peace, with armed groups still operating in parts of some regions.

BBC/JJ/CO