The opposition in South Sudan claims that the government is attempting to impose “one-tribe rule”
The opposition in South Sudan has accused the government of attempting to impose “authoritarian control and one-tribe rule” following the suspension of First Vice President Riek Machar due to charges of planning militia attacks.
Machar and 20 other people were charged with murder, treason, and crimes against humanity for allegedly participating in White Army militia attacks in the northeast in March, but his SPLM-IO party dismissed the charges.
International concerns about a resumption of the deadly civil war between Machar’s ethnic Nuer forces and Dinka militants loyal to his longtime foe President Salva Kiir have been stoked by his imprisonment under house arrest since March.
As part of a peace agreement that put an end to the war, Kiir and Machar served in a unity government; yet, their relationship remained tense, and intermittent bloodshed has persisted between the two groups.
“The charges are fabricated to abrogate the (peace agreement), sideline Dr. Machar and the SPLM-IO, and entrench total government control,” Machar’s SPLM-IO party declared late Thursday, right after the allegations were made public by the justice ministry.
Kiir has long been trying to replace Machar with his close supporter, Second Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel, who was sanctioned by the United States because to allegations that he was given preferential treatment when obtaining government contracts, according to political observers.
During recent bilateral talks, South Sudanese officials have requested that the United States remove the restrictions, Joseph Szlavik, a lobbyist for Juba in Washington, told Reuters last month.
According to Szlavik, those discussions have also included the possibility of sending further American deportees to South Sudan after eight men—seven of whom were from third countries—arrived there in July.
