IGAD applauds the S. Sudan key peace parties’ agreement on command force unification.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has praised a recent agreement made by South Sudan’s key peace parties on the unification of command forces in order to build a single professional army.

In a statement obtained by The EastAfrican on Monday, IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu praised the peace parties for taking the first step toward the full implementation of transitional security arrangements.

“IGAD hailed H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his Vice-President H.E. Riek Machar, as well as the parties to the agreement, for their goodwill, and thanked the Government of the Republic of Sudan, the Chair of IGAD, for facilitating the agreement.”

Workneh stated, “The Executive Secretary urges all parties to follow the provisions of the agreement and to completely, sincerely, and expeditiously execute it.”

Last week, tensions erupted in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, as President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar differed on how to carry out some security arrangements included in the 2018 peace accord.

However, because to Sudan’s efforts, the peace parties reached an agreement over the weekend to combine the troops into a single professional army, as specified in the 2018 peace accord.

Since its independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has been plagued by insecurity.

The UN has regularly chastised South Sudan’s administration for inciting violence, restricting political liberties, and looting public funds.

According to the most recent reports, combat is still going on in several sections of the nation.

According to a joint report released earlier this month by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office, at least 440 people were murdered in violent fighting between rival militias in the country’s southwest between June and September last year.