Deployment of unified forces should have come ahead of all things

The parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement are still way back to agree on the deployment of the first batch of unified forces which were graduated in August 2022.

The delay in fulfilling this noble obligation has created security vacuum in which many lives and properties have been lost.

Despite President Salva Kiir reconstituting last week the Nation Elections Commission, National Constitutional Review Commission and the Political Parties’ Council, there remains serious work in addressing the key issue of security arrangements.

Many South Sudanese are not only clamouring for improved social services but also equally need assurances of security.

Several criminal incidents have continued to take place across parts of the country with only condemnation from government officials in their comfort in Juba.

Not even humanitarian workers have been spared of this criminality and this list includes unarmed civilians going about their work.

It is high time the main principles President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar got their act together, in order to save this country from slight risk of descending again into conflict.

We already have thousands of victims of the brutal conflict the two fought; we urge them to speed up the implementation of the critical security arrangements ahead of the election period.