Juba, South Sudan – The main opposition party of South Sudan said Thursday that a peace agreement has been collapsed that ended a five -year civil war, after the arrest of its leader Riek Machar a day before.
The vice president of the party, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, said in a statement that the agreement “has been annulled” and that Machar’s arrest shows a lack of good political will to achieve peace and stability.
The UN warned Monday that the country was staggering on the edge of a Renewed Civil War following fighting in the north Between an armed group allied to Machar and government forces.
And the UN spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, intensified that warning on Thursday after Machar’s arrest, saying: “We warn that this action takes the country a step closer to the edge of a collapse in the civil war and the dismantling of the peace agreement.”
He said that “it is unimaginable that political leaders allow their country to return to a bloody civil war and the tragedy that would occur,” and added that “it is vital that the country’s leaders put people’s interest in the first place.”
The head of the UN Peace Mainion Mission in South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, said that after the reports of the detention of Machar, all parties should “exercise restriction and defend the revitalized peace agreement”, which Dujarric said that “it would include restoring the freedom of the first vice president.”
The five -year Civil War of South Sudan, in which 400,000 people were killed, ended in a 2018 peace agreement that brought together President Salva Kiir and Machar in a unit of unity. Machar is one of the five vice presidents of the country.
Machar was “in confinement for the government” and his life was “at risk,” said the opposition spokesman, Pal Mai Deng, in a video speech to the media on Wednesday night.
Tensions have increased between Kiir and Machar matches and intensified in March when the White Army, an armed group Leal to Machar, invaded an army base in the state of Alto Nilo and He attacked a UN helicopter.
The Government responded with air attacks, warning any civilian in the area where the Army group is based to vacate or “face consequences.”
More than a dozen people have died since air attacks began in mid -March and the UN warned about a renewed civil war if leaders do not first put the interests of the country.
“Tonight, the country’s leaders are on the verge of falling in generalized conflicts or bringing the country to peace, recovery and democracy in the spirit of consensus that was reached in 2018 when they signed and promised to implement a revitalized peace agreement,” said Haysom in a statement on Wednesday night.
An opposition official described 20 strongly armed vehicles that arrived at Machar’s house, where he was arrested with his wife.
“His bodyguards were unarmed, and an arrest warrant was given under unclear positions,” said Rath Muoch Tang, an official in the movement/liberation army of the people of Sudan, in opposition.
The president of the African Union commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, said he would display a team in Juba “as part of the efforts to discourage the situation.”
In a statement about X, the Office of African Affairs of the United States Department of the United States urged Kiir to reverse house arrest and “avoid a greater climbing of the situation.”
The president of the UN Human Rights Commission in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, said Thursday that “the deliberate orientation of opposition leaders and civilians represents a reckless contempt for international law and the future of the country.”
In early March, several of Machar’s upper allies were arrested by security forces, an action that their supporters condemned as a “serious violation” of the peace agreement.
Germany and Norway have temporarily closed their respective embassies in Juba. The United States embassy further reduced its minimum staff due to security threats and advised Americans who are in the country to prepare to take refuge if the “situation deteriorates even more.” The British embassy also said that it had temporarily reduced its staff with “severely limited” consular services.
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Edith M. Lederer contributed to this United Nations history.
