Parties graduate over 1300 peace forces in Unity State

JUBA – South Sudan parties to the revitalized peace agreement on Thursday graduated at least 1366 in a training center in southern Unity State, a senior military officer from South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) said this morning.

Brig. Gen. Wijang Duop, the spokesman of the SSOA military wing and member of the Joint Defense Board (JDB) said the forces were graduated at Muom training Center in Leer County of Unity State and include different units of the security sector.

“Yesterday, we travelled to Muom training center in Leer County of Unity State and we graduated at least 1366 forces of the necessary unified forces as provided for in the revitalized peace agreement and this is another show for our commitment as parties to the revitalized peace agreement,” Wijang said.

The senior opposition official further said that the parties will now take another step to move on to other parts of the state including but not limited to the training center in Koch County and Rubkona before moving on to Upper Nile State.

“We have started now for Unity State. We will go to other training centers in Unity State before we go to Upper Nile state where the forces are also waiting for us and this is a very critical job from the parties to the agreement,” he said.

Based on the revitalized peace agreement, around 83,000 peace forces are to be graduated to provide security and protect civilians across the world’s youngest country ahead of the conduct of general elections provided for in the deal.

The parties have however been slow in their implementation process of the security arrangement provided for in chapter two of the revitalized peace agreement, forcing them to extend the transitional period for at least two years beyond the February 22^nd 2023 deadline.