A team of the Joint Transitional Security Committee (JTSC) on Tuesday arrived in South Sudan’s Western Bahr al Ghazal State to prepare for the graduation of the unified forces.

Earlier this month, the mechanism charged with overseeing the implementation of the 2018 peace deal said that the first batch of necessary unified forces would be graduated on 30 August, after several failed deadlines in the last two years.

Under the peace agreement, South Sudan is supposed to graduate 83,000 unified forces drawn from the various parties to take charge of security during the transitional period.

The parties had agreed to graduate the first batch of 53,000 forces.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the state officials in Wau town this morning, the deputy chairperson of the JTSC and head of the military delegation, Major General Michael Majur Aleer, said the team has come to prepare the ground for the graduation of the first batch of the unified forces next week.

 “We arrived in Wau from Juba to prepare the forces at the training centres for graduation. Let me appeal to our people at all training centres, Masna Biira centre for organized forces and the army in Mapel and Pantiit that they should report back to the centres immediately,” he said.

 “The graduation is on the 30 August, and we have come with some things for graduation. The forces' readiness includes reviewing the training and organizing the forces into groups from battalion and brigade such that they are ready for graduation parade,” he said.

For his part, Major General Abraham Gum Makuac, the commander of the army’s fifth infantry division in Western Bahr al Ghazal State, thanked the military headquarters for preparing the ground for the graduation of the necessary unified forces.

“Let’s thank the army headquarters for organizing the graduation of the unified forces, and also I thank the media for coving and sending out information to the population in Western Bahr al Ghazal state," Gum said.

“I want to thank our soldiers because they have been patient for three years. I want to tell every soldier whether you stay in Wau town or outside the town, please go back to your centre,” Gum said. “The graduation is on the 30th, and it will not be postponed.”