The Minister of Oil and Deputy Army Secretary were arrested as soldiers surrounding the home of Riek Machar in the capital, in the latest threat to the peace deal in 2018.
The South Sudanese army arrested the oil minister and several senior military officials who had allied with First Vice President Leek Machar as soldiers surrounded the home in the capital Juba.
Mahhar’s loyalty, Deputy Director Gabriel Duop Lam, was taken into custody on Tuesday, while Petroleum Kang Chol’s minister was arrested on Wednesday along with his bodyguard and his family.
There was no reason for his arrest. The arrest came after an armed group allied to overrun the country’s army base in the northern Nile River state to Makar.
Machar, whose political competition with President Salva Kir has exploded into civil war in the past, said last month that several layoffs of allies from the government’s post threatened a 2018 peace deal between him and Kir.
The deal concluded a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people were killed. Water Minister Pal Mai Den, a spokesman for SPLM-IO party in Machar, said Ram’s arrest would “have the entire peace agreement at risk.”
“The lawsuit violates an activated agreement on the resolution of South Sudan’s disputes and cripples the Joint Defense Committee, a key system of agreements that is responsible for orders and management of all forces. The law puts the entire agreement at risk,” Deng’s statement said.
“We are also seriously concerned about the mass deployment of SSPDFs. [South Sudan army troops] Around Macher’s residence,” he wrote. “These actions suppress confidence and trust between the parties.”
Both Balans of Puck, another Macher spokesman, said other senior officials who allied with Macher were placed under house arrest.
“At this point, there is no reason to lead to arrest or detention. [these] Baran told Reuters.
Major General Lulu Luai Koan, a spokesman for the South Sudan Army, said in a statement late Tuesday he would not comment on the arrest or the military surrounding Macher’s residence.
The civil war that broke out in December 2013 after Kiel fired Machar, driving over 2.5 million people from their homes, with almost half of the 11 million people struggling to find enough food.
The tension appears to have been caused by growing concern over the Upper Nile’s anxiety.
The SSPDF denounced Ram and his troops working with so-called white rebels in the area, which come primarily from the nuer community of the same ethnic group.
Last month, the UN mission in South Sudan reported an increase in combat between the army and “armed youth” in Nasir County, Upper Nile, including “heavy weapons that reportedly resulted in the deaths and injuries of civilians and armed men.”
The Civil War began just two years after South Sudan became independent from Sudan. The country remains plagued by poverty and violence.
Tell Manyan Gatwich, executive director of the Centre for Peace and Advocacy, called for the immediate release of those arrested to avoid further escalation of violence and make it even more bloody to regress into what he called a “full war.”
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