JUBA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's government said Friday that the first batch of the graduated unified forces will be deployed this month with sticks due to the existing arms embargo.

The first batch of unified forces consisting of 52,000 personnel graduated in August last year.

The delay in their deployment has slowed down the start of training of the remaining second batch of unified forces.

"The process of the deployment of forces is continuing and probably within this month the deployment of the graduated forces will be done and we are going to deploy them with sticks," Michael Makuei Lueth, the minister of Information, told journalists after the cabinet meeting in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Under the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, the transitional government is supposed to train and deploy 83,000 unified forces consisting of police, wildlife, prisons, intelligence and military officers.

"We have been trying to wait and see if there will be a possibility of lifting the arms embargo so that the unified forces are deployed," Makuei said.

The United Nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo in July 2018 on South Sudan following the outbreak of conflict in December 2013. In May 2023, the UNSC adopted a resolution to renew for a year the arms embargo measures against South Sudan, as well as targeted sanctions of the travel ban and asset freeze against individuals and entities.

South Sudan is supposed to hold elections in December 2024 at the end of the current transitional period. The deployment of the first batch of unified forces is critical to provide security before elections are held. Enditem

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