South Sudan ‘on the brink of war’ – Riek Machar under house arrest

South Sudan’s peace agreement lies in tatters after Riek Machar, South Sudan’s vice president, was arrested and forcibly detained in Juba yesterday, noting that the reasons for this were unclear. Reports say the defence minister and head of national security entered his residence and handed him an arrest warrant.

South Sudan has been formally at peace since a 2018 agreement ended a five-year conflict between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Machar, which killed nearly 400,000 people. However, relations between the two leaders, who have dominated South Sudan’s politics for decades, remain strained. Pal Mai Deng, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM/IO) official spokesperson, confirmed to Radio Tamazuj, Radio Dabanga’s sister channel covering South Sudan.

The SPLM/IO and the National Congress Party (NCP), condemned what they saw as “a flagrant violation of the constitution and the reinvigorated peace agreement” that ended the country’s 2013-2018 civil war between forces loyal to Machar and President Salva Kiir.

“The arrest and detention of Riek Machar effectively brings the agreement to a collapse,” SPLM/IO deputy leader Oyet Nathaniel Pierino told a press conference today. “The prospect for peace and stability in South Sudan has now been put into serious jeopardy,” he added.

According to the party statement, the vice president’s bodyguards were disarmed, and he was handed an arrest warrant on “unclear charges”, indicating that there were attempts to transfer him to another location.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was quick to warn that the move puts the country “on the brink of war” and called on all parties to exercise restraint and uphold the revitalised peace agreement.

“Tonight, the country’s leaders stand on the brink of relapsing into widespread conflict or taking the country forward towards peace, recovery and democracy in the spirit of the consensus that was reached in 2018 when they signed and committed to implementing a Revitalized Peace Agreement,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMISS, Nicholas Haysom.

“Unilateral amendments by Parties to that agreement that jeopardize the hard-won gains of the past seven years risk returning the country back into a state of war. This will not only devastate South Sudan but also affect the entire region.”

UNMISS again urges the Parties to immediately cease hostilities and engage in constructive dialogue that puts the best interests of their people at the forefront of this pivotal moment for the world’s newest nation.

Earlier on Wednesday, the United Nations reported clashes over the past 24 hours between forces loyal to the two men outside the capital Juba.

The clashes followed weeks of tensions arising from fighting in the northeast between government forces and a militia historically close to Machar’s.

Reactions

The government of South Sudan has not yet issued any comment on Machar’s reported house-arrest. Following the reports, the US embassy in Juba announced that the number of government employees had been reduced to a minimum due to “continuing security threats in South Sudan”.

“We urge our citizens who are currently in South Sudan to consider leaving if possible,” the embassy said.

The State Department’s Office of African Affairs later said “we are concerned by reports that the vice president of South Sudan has been placed under house arrest,” adding, “We urge the president of South Sudan to reverse this measure and prevent an escalation of the situation.”

The Canadian government has advised its citizens in South Sudan to leave the country by commercial means if it is safe to do so.

The Norwegian embassy also announced its closure for security reasons, while Germany and Britain asked their nationals not to travel to South Sudan.

In his latest remarks, Riek Machar accused neighbouring Uganda of violating a UN arms embargo by entering South Sudan with armoured units and air forces, and launching air strikes across the country.

In the March 23 letter, Machar said that “Ugandan forces are currently engaged in airstrikes against civilians” and urged pressure on Uganda to withdraw its forces.

Uganda fears that an all-out conflict in its oil-producing northern neighbour could send waves of refugees across the border and potentially lead to instability.

Uganda’s parliament last week retroactively approved the deployment in South Sudan, which was first announced on March 11.

Ugandan Defence Minister Jacob Markson Obooth said the deployment was made “to avoid a security catastrophe” in Africa’s newest country.

For weeks, fighting has been raging in South Sudan between federal forces loyal to President Kiir and forces supporting Vice President Machar, despite a peace deal signed between them in 2018. Since its independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has been mired in successive violence that has effectively prevented an end to the bloody civil war between Kiir and Machar. That war killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced four million between 2013 and 2018, when a peace deal was signed.

The 2013-2018 civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people in the world’s smallest country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011.