![Police officers graduating in Juba on Thursday, February 29, 2024. [Photo by Sudans Post]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/19e4d61c-9253-47c0-8d7c-d4c01654a280.jpeg?resize=1008%2C567&quality=89&ssl=1)
The graduation ceremony, with the theme “Working together with the community to provide security, safety, and public order,” was attended by key figures, including President Salva Kiir Mayardit and interior minister Angelina Teny.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony conducted at Dr. John Garang De Mabior Mausoleum, President Kiir highlighted the rise in crime and urged the new police force to forge a positive relationship with civilians.
“The police should work well [to reduce crime] … the police have to protect civilians,” he said.
Meanwhile the interior minister emphasized the duty of the graduates to protect lives, property, and the country’s integrity.
“I advised these officers to desist from partisan politics and instead pay allegiance to the nation. The suffering of civilians must end through you,” Teny said. “I advise politicians to leave these officers alone, don’t interfere with them, they have a job to do.”
Gen. Santino Deng Wol, Chief of Defense Forces of the SSPDF, cautioned against tribal and political divisions within the security forces.
“Politicizing the army is the root cause of all the problems in our country, it has to end after this graduation. Be a national army with objectives to protect civilians and their properties,” Wol said.
This graduation follows the August 2023 graduation of over 20,000 unified forces under the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
The agreement outlines the training of 83,000 forces to ensure security during the transitional period, which will expire in February 2025.
South Sudan’s conflict erupted in December 2013 following a political dispute between President Kiir and his then-deputy Riek Machar.
The violence caused a split within the army, leading to widespread deaths and displacement.
