President Salva Kiir, the Commander in Chief of the Organized Forces - Courtesy

President Salva Kiir on Tuesday urged newly graduated unified forces not to pay allegiance to any other leaders but to the country and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

The president was addressing necessary unified forces who graduated today  [Tuesday] at Dr. John Garang Mausoleum in Juba.

At least 21,973 unified forces graduated on Tuesday.

President Kiir said Dr. Machar and Abdelbaggi are no longer the Commanders-in-chief of the unified army.

“From today, you are not a military wing of any party to the conflict. You are now the first national security sector organ of the republic of South Sudan,” Kiir said.

“As the president of the republic, I am your commander-in-chief. 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.”

President Kiir further told the graduates to consider themselves as a national army not as an ethnic group.

“It is your responsibility to defend the flag of our country with all its colors and the meaning attached to each of them,” said President Kiir.

“You must never be a member of any political party, and you must consider yourself South Sudanese carrying out your duty, not a soldier of an ethnic group.”

President Kiir pointed out that the country needs a professional army for credible elections that he said is expected to take place in 24-month.

He further called on the hold-out group to join the peace wagon.

In the Presidential order read by the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr. Barnaba Marial during the graduation ceremony, 21,973 unified forces have graduated.

They included 3,308 VIP protection forces integrated into the army [SSPDF], and 4,366 personnel into the unified South Sudan National Police Service.

Kiir also integrated 6,315 personnel into the unified National Security Service, and 1,120 personnel into a unified National Prison service.

Some of the unified forces graduated without firearms.

This comes several months after the unity government warned it did not have firearms to graduate the unified forces, citing the arms embargo imposed on the country by the United States.