VP’s office: South Sudan detains military personnel and the oil minister

First Vice President Riek Machar’s spokesperson said Wednesday that South Sudanese soldiers had detained the petroleum minister and a number of high-ranking military officials who were close to Machar, endangering a peace agreement that put an end to the civil conflict.

Following weeks of fierce combat between national troops and the White Army militia—a loosely organized group primarily made up of Machar’s ethnic group, the armed Nuer—in the strategically important northern town of Nasir, the arrests were made.

The White Army fought alongside Machar’s soldiers against President Salva Kiir’s mostly ethnic Dinka army during the 2013–2018 civil conflict.

All other senior military officers associated with Machar were placed under house arrest, according to Machar spokesperson Puok Both Baluang, while Nasir-born Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol and the army’s deputy commander Gabriel Doup Lam were arrested.

“As of now, there’s not any reason provided to us that led to the arrest or the detention of (these) officials,” Baluang said to Reuters.

Despite being able to get to his office on Wednesday morning, Machar was surrounded by South Sudanese military, according to Baluang.

Requests for response from Michael Makuei, the government’s information minister, were not immediately answered. In a statement, he announced that he would host a press conference later on Wednesday.

The civil conflict in South Sudan, which broke out only two years after the country separated from Sudan, is thought to have killed 400,000 people, displaced 2.5 million, and left over half of its 11 million residents without access to enough food.

Although isolated violence frequently erupts, a peace agreement reached in 2018 has mostly prevented direct combat between Kiir and Machar’s militaries.

The United Nations and African Union peacekeeping forces in South Sudan issued a warning about the possibility of “widespread violence” and demanded a de-escalation in Nasir’s Upper Nile State last week.

The leader of the Center for Peace and Advocacy in Juba, Ter Manyang, said he was afraid for the future and connected the arrests to the conflict in Nasir.
“The country is likely to slide to war unless the situation is managed by the top leadership of the country,” according to him.