President Salva Kiir inspecting the guard of honor during the the graduation ceremony of necessary unified forces at Dr. John Garang Mausoleum in Juba - Credit | Alue Peter /Eye Radio | 30 August 2022

President Salva Kiir has graduated more than twenty thousand necessary unified forces who successfully completed their basic military training at various centers around Juba in Central Equatoria State.

In an order of allegiance read during the graduation ceremony, President Kiir who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the South Sudan Defense Forces (SSPDF), on Tuesday graduated a total of 21,973 unified forces.

The passed-out included 3,308 VIP protection forces of the Unified 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.

In a separate order, Kiir integrated 3,575 personnel into the unified National Wildlife Service and 3,289 into the unified National Civil Defense Service.

The allegiance order was read by Dr. Barnaba Marial during the graduation ceremony at Dr. John Garang Mausoleum in Juba.

The forces were graduated without firearms.

This comes several months after the unity government warned it did no have firearms to graduate the unified forces, citing the arms embargo imposed on the country by the United States.