South Sudan being pushed to the brink

SOUTH Sudan, the world's youngest country, is in the midst of a deteriorating political crisis which is moving it ever closer to another civil war.

- DR SIZO NKALA

Vice President Riek Machar and his wife, Angelina Teni, who also serves as the Interior Minister, were arrested in the late hours of March 26 at their residence in Juba. The South Sudanese government blamed Vice President Machar for instigating a rebellion against the government with the intention of delaying elections.

President Salva Kiir ordered the arrest of the Vice President and his wife.

Machar's arrest came after renewed fighting between the government forces and the White Army militia in the Upper Nile state in the northern parts of the country.

The militia ran over a military base and attacked a United Nations helicopter belonging to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) which had been deployed to rescue the government soldiers.

The fighting claimed about 28 lives and has already displaced about 100 000 people with many fleeing to neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya. The White Army militia, which is made up of members of the Nuer ethnic group, is reportedly loyal to Vice President Machar while the government forces are under the control of President Salva Kiir.

In response, Kiir's government arrested some of Machar's key allies including the deputy chief of defence, the petroleum minister, the peacebuilding minister, and several senior military figures.

Moreover, the governor of the Upper Nile state, who was also a Machar ally, was removed from his position after being accused of being behind the violence in the state.

President Kiir's South Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Vice President Machar's SPLM In Opposition (SPLM-IO) were the main protagonists in a deadly civil war between 2013 and 2018 which killed an estimated 400,000 people.