South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang on Tuesday invited the media to an event to showcase the deployment of the joint security forces and their equipment to secure the festive season.

Speaking at a press conference during a final parade before the deployment of the joint forces comprising SSPDF officers and men, police, National Security Service personnel, and other organized forces, Gen. Ruai reassured that the various forces, under the army’s leadership, are ready to protect civilians and their property.

“You can see the joint security forces comprising of units from SSPDF, there is the Tiger, Military Police, Ground Force, and at the back we have the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS), and all these joint security forces are playing different roles,” he said. “The traffic police will take care of the traffic, and guide our citizens to drive carefully and with a lot of care. The security forces will protect members of the public and their property.”

The SSPDF mouthpiece said they have deployed different weapons to facilitate the protection of civilians.

“You are seeing different types of vehicles ranging from buses for transport, medium-sized trucks, and we have combat support vehicles mounted with different types of weapons systems ranging from 12.7 and 14.5,” he said. “The intention of holding this show of force parade is to reassure the public that we in the organized forces are ready with the right numbers put in place to provide security from now on until we are done with the festive season. So, we are demonstrating to the people that we have what it takes to protect them.”

Gen. Rual said the only way to demonstrate the preparedness of the security forces was by holding a public parade to show our force. 

“The second reason is that once these forces are seen on social media, they are shown on the mainstream media and it will act as a deterrent to those who might be harbouring intentions of committing crime,” he explained.  “So, this is the reason why we are showing all this combat support equipment and weapons to let them know that we are not only here in numbers, but we also have the power it takes for us to meet any eventuality.” Radio Tamazuj