South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
Peace monitors have revealed that the delay in the full deployment of the first batch of 51,000 unified forces is due to long-running disagreement among the parties on the command structure for the prisons, wildlife, fire brigade and national security services.
The forces were graduated in August 2022 amid excitement and hope among citizens that their deployment would be fast-tracked, but until the start of this year these forces remain redundant.
These forces if deployed would be able to tackle the ongoing intermittent communal violence and cattle theft across the country.
Lawlessness reigns nearly in most parts of the country due to the existing security vacuum.
The parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement need to address the thorny issue of the ratios within unified command structure for prisons, wildlife, fire brigade and national security services.
The much taunted elections slated for December 2024 may be disrupted if the unified forces are not fully deployed ahead of the election dateline.
President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar need to resolve their differences if they are to guarantee citizens a peaceful transition toward peace and stability.
The time for blame games is over because South Sudanese want to elect their leaders democratically.
