Hon. Michael Makuei, the Minister of Information and government official Spokesperson - Credit: Moses Awan/Eye Radio - April 26, 2023

The Minister of Information has attributed the delay to deploy the unified forces to big numbers of opposition group high-ranking officers that are hindering the unification of the command structure.

Other factors, Michael Makuei said are the arms embargo and the graduation of opposition forces without firearms.

So far, the unity government has graduated over 50,000 members of the Necessary Unified Forces – the first batch of the 83,000 forces provided for in the agreement.

But several months after their graduation, the forces have not been deployed.

Early this year, the government of South Sudan reiterated its calls on the UN Security Council to lift the arms embargo on the country to enable the deployment of a strong security force that can protect the people and the country.

According to Michael Makuei, apart from the arms embargo, the opposition groups have a higher number of generals compared to the non-commissioned officers.

This, he says, has made the unification of the command structure according to the military formation impossible.

He is calling on the armed groups to reorganize their ranks to expedite the deployment.

“The deployment of the unified forces is connected to the unification of the command, up to this moment the opposition forces have not been organized in terms of the organizational structure of the army so that this rank is command such force,” makuei said.

“The opposition forces went to the training centers without arms. Coupled with the arms embargo. We will not be in a position to deploy them because it’s only the SSPDF side,

“It’s the middle and lower rational that must be organized in accordance with our military formation because if the number of officers is higher than the number of NCO’s then defiantly it becomes difficult to deploy these forces,

“Those groups [opposition forces] should organize their forces and they officers so that they deploy, this, why to deploy, is not taken place.”

However, during last year’s governor forum, Senior SPLM-IO member, Oyet Nathaniel opposed the lifting of the arms embargo saying, the unified forces should be deployed with sticks.

According to the deputy speaker of the revitalized transitional parliament, there are enough arms in the country.

He blamed the inter-communal violence on the prevalence of firearms among the civilian population and called for a nationwide disarmament.