South Sudan to deploy opposition elements of peace forces without weapons

JUBA, AUGUST 18, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan’s information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, has said that the government will deploy unified forces with sticks, and that opposition forces must produce their rifles in order to be trained.

“Those who are in the field now will be graduated with sticks, will be deployed now. Their food has arrived, and they will be deployed with their sticks. We’ll deploy them. By then we’ll see what they will do on the ground,” Makuei said.

“The second phase will be coming in. And second phase, it is conditional. For you to go to the [training center] you must produce your rifle to convince us that you were a combatant. Once you produce your rifle, when it is put in the store, then you go for training.

“When you graduate from there, you are given, you take your rifle, and you are graduated with it,” he added.

The senior government official went on to blame the arms embargo imposed in 2018 for the country’s inability to acquire weapons, something that contradicts a 2022 US government assertion that South Sudan has more arms than people.

“Because we have the arms embargo. An arms embargo is another way of obstructing the implementation of the agreement,” Makuei said.

“It is obstruction because we will not be allowed, they know we don’t manufacture arms, we don’t manufacture even ammunitions and everything,” he added.