South Sudan's former rebels join unified army

Thousands of fighters including former rebels from rival camps in South Sudan's civil war were integrated into the country's army in a long-overdue graduation ceremony.

The unification of forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, was a key condition of the 2018 peace deal that ended the brutal five-year conflict in which nearly 400,000 people died.

Since achieving independence in 2011 from Sudan, the world's youngest nation has lurched from crisis to crisis, battling flooding, hunger, ethnic violence and political turmoil.

Nearly 22,000 men and women -- drawn from Kiir and Machar parties as well as the South Sudan Opposition Alliance -- participated in  proceedings, which were originally scheduled to take place in 2019 according to the peace deal.

But years of deadlock between the two men over the division of senior posts in the unified armed forces command meant that they only inked an agreement on the issue in April this year.

The delays have fuelled frustration in the international community as explosions of violence threaten to undo even fragile gains.

Thousands of former rebels swore an oath of loyalty in a ceremony held under tight security at Juba's John Garang Mausoleum, built in honour of South Sudan's independence hero who died in 2005.

The ceremony came weeks after the country's leaders announced that they would remain in power two years beyond an agreed deadline, sparking international concern.