By Our Correspondent
Juba
Tension is very high in Juba city of South Sudan after the dramatic arrest of First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar, a key opposition leader and signatory to the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement.
This arrest is feared to be going to break the fragile peace process and may lead to fresh fighting between forces royal to either sides.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has called for restraint and urgent recommitment to peace, warning of the country’s potential slide back into civil war.
According to a statement from Reath Muoch Tang, head of foreign relations for Machar’s SPLM/A-IO party, a convoy of “20 heavily armed vehicles” stormed Machar’s residence in the capital Juba late Wednesday night.
“We strongly condemn the unconstitutional actions taken today by the Minister of Defense and the Chief of National Security, who, alongside more than 20 heavily armed vehicles, forcefully entered the residence of the First Vice President,” the statement read.
“His bodyguards were disarmed, and an arrest warrant was delivered to him under unclear charges. Attempts are currently being made to relocate him,” it added.
According to agencies and sources inside South Sudan, the arrest marks a dramatic escalation in a conflict that has been simmering for weeks, as the power-sharing arrangement between President Salva Kiir and Machar steadily deteriorated.
The collapse of trust between the two leaders threatens to unravel the Revitalized Peace Agreement, which ended a brutal five-year civil war (2013–2018) that killed an estimated 400,000 people.