Tension has escalated significantly in South Sudan as the country’s security forces took the dramatic step of arresting both the oil minister and the deputy head of the army.
These key figures are known to be close allies of First Vice-President Riek Machar, sparking fears about the stability of the nation’s fragile peace agreement. South Sudan, which gained independence only recently and is the world’s youngest nation, had previously endured a brutal civil war spanning five years.
This conflict was supposedly concluded in 2018 through a power-sharing arrangement forged between two fierce opponents: President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Machar. However, rising animosity threatens to unravel this delicate balance, particularly amid reports of violent confrontations in the northeastern region of Upper Nile State.
Government sources have claimed that ongoing clashes there are between the national army and rebel groups allegedly supported by Machar’s faction. Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth stated that rebels have captured a government military base in the area early Tuesday, with fierce battles continuing. Lueth leveled accusations against Machar’s movement, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), suggesting that they are collaborating with the White Army, a loosely organized militia of young men from Machar’s ethnic Nuer community. In the wake of these hostilities, two of Machar’s prominent associates, Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol and deputy army chief General Gabriel Duop Lam, have reportedly been detained, further inflaming an already volatile situation.
