Machar’s arrest brings South Sudan closer to civil war, UN warns as tension escalates
Machar is also the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM-IO)
Africa’s youngest nation could potentially plunge into full scale civil war following the arrest of First Vice President and opposition leader Riek Machar and his wife Angelina Teny, who is also the country’s Interior Minister.
Machar is also the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM-IO).
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has since expressed concern about “alarming” developments in South Sudan, saying the arrest of the country’s Vice President brings it closer to civil war, according to a UN spokesperson.
“The Secretary-General is following with deep concern the alarming situation in South Sudan,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters, referring specifically to the arrest and detention of the first vice president by forces loyal to President Salva Kiir.
Machar and Kiir are longstanding rivals who entered a power-sharing deal in 2018 which has been gradually unravelling, risking a return of the civil war that killed around 400,000 people in the African nation.
Machar’s house arrest “takes the country yet one step closer to the edge of collapse into civil war and the dismantling of the peace agreement,” said Dujarric, calling for the official’s release.
UN called for a return to revitalised peace agreement and urged South Sudan’s leaders to “resolve their grievances” and put the interests of the people first.
“We want to see a return to the revitalised peace agreement and that would include restoring the freedom of the first Vice President,” Dujarric added.
The population “can ill afford to endure the consequences of yet another civil war,” Dujarric said, noting that 9.3 million South Sudanese “are already in need of some form of humanitarian assistance with conflict, climate change and economic crisis, keeping too many people on the verge of survival.”
South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011, has remained plagued by insecurity since the peace deal in 2018.
Kenya’s President William Ruto has tapped former Prime Minister Raila Odinga who failed in his candidature in the just concluded African Union Commission Chairmanship as Kenya’s special envoy to South Sudan.
He is expected to depart today morning for Juba as part of efforts to avert another civil war.
A fragile peace deal in South Sudan was collapsing on yesterday after the arrests threatening to throw the country back into war.
A convoy of 20 heavily armed vehicles entered Machar’s residence in the capital Juba late on Wednesday and arrested him, according to a statement issued by a member of his party–a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has been building for weeks in the world’s youngest country.
A power-sharing deal between Kiir and Machar has been gradually unravelling, risking a return of the civil war that killed around 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.
