President Salva Kiir in group photo with unified armed forces command - Credit | Office of the President | April 14, 2022

The presidency will pick a date for graduation of the necessary unified forces in the coming days, President Salva Kiir has said.

Kiir said the command structure of the unified forces has been established, and that the security arrangement is in the advanced stages.

He was speaking in a televised address on Independence Day at the State House J1 yesterday.

“Another sticking point that the region and the international community is waiting for is the graduation of the unified forces. Plans for the graduation…..are in the advanced stages and the presidency will sit in the coming days to pick a date for their graduation,” he said.

The statement comes after the graduation was postponed for another time, after it was scheduled for the end of June.

Last month, Vice President Taban Deng Gai invited the newly elected Somali President to the graduation ceremony slated for the end of June.

Gai announced the graduation in Somalia, a week after the Co-Chair of the Joint Defense Board revealed that the graduation of more than 50,000 unified forces would take place during that time.

But the graduation has not happened under unclear reasons.

Meanwhile, President Kiir appealed to the national parliament to denounce what he called partisan politics and pass the necessary bills to speed up the peace implementation.

“All the required bills that we need to finalize the implementation of the revitalized agreement are in their final stages. I add my voice by calling upon our members of parliament to put aside partisan politics and engage in genuine debate that will pave the way to passing these bills,” said Kiir.

The national parliament stand divided after SPLM-IO lawmakers boycotted sittings over alleged unilateral passing of a bill by majority in the August House.