Information Minister Michael Makuei speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting on Friday, 17th November 2023. (Photo: Charles Wote/Eye Radio)

The first phase of the Necessary Unified Force has been deployed with sticks because the government is unable to procure weapons due to arms embargo, said the government spokesperson.

On Wednesday, the Joint Defense Board kicked off the deployment of force starting with a battalion of 750 soldiers including 150 female combatants that were posted to Upper Nile State.

Minister Michael Makuei says the government does not have firearms to give to the necessary unified forces.

“If you might have seen it, we are deploying them without arms and we are deploying them without arms because we have no arms and the security council decided to pass a resolution on the arms embargo on South Sudan,” Makuei told reporters after Friday’s cabinet meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir.

“We are unable to acquire arms from any source and as such as deploy them with sticks. It is the international community that insisted and said that you must deploy these forces.”

“We have been saying we cannot deploy them without arms and they [International community] said deployed them so we have deployed them. We will see when and what are they going to do with the sticks.”

Minister Makuei further appealed to the UN Security council and the international community to lift arms embargo on South Sudan.

“For us to have this problem resolved, we call upon the international community and the UN security in particular to lift the arms embargo so that we are these people,” he said.

According to him, the unity government is working to bring in phase two of the necessary unified forces to the training centers.

“We are clearing the training centers so that phase two of the unified forces goes to the training and these unified forces that are going for training this time, nobody will be allowed to go to the training center without a rifle because we don’t want them to be subjected to the same condition that phase one met now.”

Under the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, the unity government is obliged to train and deploy 83,000 unified forces consisting of police, wildlife, prisons, intelligence and military officers.

But so far, only 53,000 have been trained and graduated.