Graduation of unified forces to take place in one month – Gatluak

JUBA – South Sudan presidential security advisor Tut Gatluak Manimeh has said that the first batch of the necessary unified forces will be graduated in one month, a day after President Salva Kiir Mayardit told senior Sudanese government officials that the forces could not be graduated because they don’t have weapons, pointing to the United Nations arms embargo.

Speaking following a meeting between First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and deputy chairman of Sudan Sovereign Council General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, Gatluak said the meeting discussed the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement and the security arrangements in particular.

“The meeting discussed the progress of the peace agreement here in South Sudan and the First Vice President of Dr. Riek Machar Teny briefed Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, First Deputy Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Head of the Sudanese Mediation team in Juba,” Gatluak told reporters in Juba Tuesday night.

“The first batch of the unified forces will be graduated within one month from today, and the second batch will go on training,” the senior government official added, saying the “peace agreement in South Sudan is going well as expected.”