Fight for peace - Museveni advises first South Sudan unified forces

South Sudan formed a unity government in 2020 to merge the warring forces of President Salva Kiir and his first vice president Dr. Riek Machar under the 2019 Entebbe Tripartite Agreement for the cessation of hostilities and a transition process toward general elections in South Sudan.

This unity government led to the creation of a unified national army whose first group was passed out for graduation into the unified forces on Tuesday. Museveni was chief guest at the ceremony which was held in Juba, South Sudan's capital city.

In his speech, Museveni extolled the virtues of peace while asking the soldiers to focus on national interests, not the mixed identities thereof.

“I bring solidarity and congratulations from the brotherly people of Uganda to the people of South Sudan on this landmark milestone, for working in true spirit of the African progressive forces to build the country towards sustainable development based on interests and not identity,” he said.

“The four sectors for economic development are Commercial agriculture, industry, services and ICT. However, you need peace to achieve all that.”

South Sudan President, Salva Kiir, at the same function, urged the united forces to put South Sudan first.

“You are not a military wing of any of the parties to the conflict, you are now the first national security special organ of the Republic of South Sudan and as president, I am your Commander in Chief,” Kiir said.

“If your commanders-in-chief were the chairperson of SPLM-IO, Dr. Riek Machar, or Hussein Abdelbagi or any other unknown commander-in-chief, now you belong to the republic of South Sudan. It is your responsibility to defend the flag of our country with all its colors and the meaning attached to each of them.”

The unified forces

At the ceremony, a total of 21,973 unified forces graduated and these included 3,308 Very Important Person Protection Forces integrated into the South Sudan army, and 4,366 personnel into the unified South Sudan National Police Service.

Also, a total of 6,315 personnel was unified into the unified National Security Service, and 1,120 personnel into a unified National Prison service.

Another 3,575 personnel were unified into the unified National Wildlife Service and 3,289 into the unified National Civil Defense Service.

The function was also attended by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the president of the Sovereign Council of Sudan who also act as the second guarantor of the peace agreement, Dr.Riek Machar Teny, the first Vice President of South Sudan and representatives from Egypt, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.