First Vice President Riek Machar reportedly arrested after armed convoy led by government officials entered his residence in the capital, Juba.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has called on all parties to exercise restraint amid reports of the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar – the longtime rival of the country’s President Salva Kiir.
UMISS chief Nicholas Haysom said the country risked losing the “hard-won gains of the past seven years” if the world’s newest nation returned to “a state of war”, following reports that Machar was arrested at his residence in the capital, Juba.
“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,” Haysom said in a statement released early Thursday.
A return to fighting “will not only devastate South Sudan but also affect the entire region”, Haysom added.
According to Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army In Opposition (SPLM/IO) party, a convoy of 20 heavily armed vehicles “forcefully entered” the first vice president’s residence in Juba and disarmed his bodyguards on Wednesday.
The country’s defence minister and chief of national security were in the convoy that delivered an arrest warrant to the vice president, the SPLM/IO said,
“An arrest warrant was delivered to him under unclear charges,” according to a statement, which was shared on Facebook by Reath Muoch Tang, chairman of Machar’s foreign relations committee.
“This act is a blatant violation of the Constitution and the Revitalized Peace Agreement, as no legal procedures such as lifting his immunity have been followed,” Tang said.
“The arrest of the First Vice President without due process undermines the rule of law and threatens the stability of the nation,” he said.
A government spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UN reported clashes over the past 24 hours between forces loyal to President Kiir and Vice President Machar outside the capital Juba.
Peace deal unravelling
A power-sharing deal between Kiir and Machar has been unravelling over recent weeks amid tension as government troops loyal to the president have battled fighters of the so-called White Army, which has close ties to Machar.
In response to fighting since late February in the northeastern Upper Nile State, Kiir’s government has detained several officials from Machar’s party, including the petroleum minister and the deputy head of the army.
Machar’s party also said a military base and two military training centres around Juba had been attacked by government forces since Monday.
The training centres were established to prepare Kiir’s opposition forces for integration into the unified army, a key provision of the 2018 peace agreement aimed at uniting government and opposition troops.
None of the incidents have been confirmed by the Kiir-aligned army, the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), though it accused Machar’s forces of aggressive manoeuvres from one of the bases on Monday.
Analysts say that an ageing Kiir, 73, has been seeking to ensure his succession and sideline Machar politically for months through cabinet reshuffles.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, fell into a bloody civil war soon after gaining independence in 2011, as forces aligned with Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fought those loyal to Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
The conflict killed more than 40,000 people before a 2018 peace deal saw the pair form a government of national unity.
The clashes and latest political tensions between Kiir and Machar have unsettled many in Juba.
The Norwegian and German embassies have closed while the the British and United States embassies said they were reducing to minimal staffing and have urged citizens to leave the country.