First Vice President Leek Machar was reportedly arrested after an armed group led by government officials resided in the capital Juba.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) called on all parties to exercise restraint in reports of the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar.
Chief of Umis Nicholas Heysom said that if the world’s latest country returns to “state of war,” the country risked losing “the past seven years of hard work and profits.”
“Tonight, the country’s leaders are on the brink of recurring into widespread conflicts and moving the country towards peace, recovery and democracy, in the spirit of consensus that reached in 2018 when they signed and committed to implementing a revitalized peace agreement.”
Returning to combat “not only will it destroy South Sudan, it will affect the entire region,” Haysom added.
According to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army Opposition (SPLM/IO) party in Machar, the convoy, a fleet of 20 heavily armed vehicles, “forcedly entered the residence of Juba’s First Vice President and disarmed the bodyguard on Wednesday.
SPLM/IO said the country’s defense minister and the national security secretary were on the convoy who delivered an arrest warrant to the vice president.
According to a statement shared on Facebook by Machar’s Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Reath Muoch Tang, “an arrest warrant has been delivered to him under unclear accusations.”
“The law is a blatant violation of the constitution and the revitalized peace agreement, as there is no legal process in place, such as lifting his immunity,” Tan said.
“The arrest of the first vice president without justice procedures undermines the rule of law and threatens the stability of the nation,” he said.
A government spokesman could not be immediately contacted for comment.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UN reported a clash over the past 24 hours between troops loyal to President Kiel and Vice President Macher outside the capital Juba.
The peace agreement will be solved
The power sharing agreement between KIIR and Machar has been unraveled in recent weeks as government forces loyal to the president fight against so-called white military fighters with close ties to Machar.
In response to the first battle in the Northeast Nile since late February, the Kiel government has detained several officials from the Machar party, including the oil minister and the vice-president of the Army.
The Machar party also said military bases and two military training centres around Juba had been attacked by government forces since Monday.
The training centre was established to prepare Kiel’s opposition forces for integration into the Universal Army, a key provision of the 2018 peace agreement aimed at uniting the government and opposition forces.
No incident has been confirmed by the troops deployed in Kiel, the South Sudan Republican Defence Force (SSPDF), but it denounced the forces of Macher’s offensive manipulation from one of the bases on Monday.
Analysts say the 73-year-old aged Kiir has been trying to secure his succession and side jobs politically for months through cabinet remodeling.
South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, fell into a bloody civil war shortly after its independence in 2011.
The conflict killed more than 40,000 people before the pair formed a government of national unity through the 2018 peace agreement.
The clashes and latest political tensions between Kiir and Machar have destabilized many in Juba.
Although embassies in Norway and Germany are closed, embassies in the UK and US say they have been reduced to minimal staffing and urged citizens to leave the country.
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