South Sudan arrests key Machar allies as army surrounds his house

As soldiers surrounded his home in Juba, the country’s capital, the petroleum minister and several senior military figures allied with First Vice President Riek Machar, were South Sudanese forces.

General Gabriel Duop Lam, a Machar loyalist, was detained on Tuesday while Puot Kang Chol, the deputy army chief, was detained on Wednesday along with his family and bodyguards.

An army base in the nation’s northern Upper Nile state was overran by an armed group allied to Machar, which led to the arrests, which were made without any justification.

Machar, whose political rivalry with Salva Kiir has historically sparked civil war, claimed last month that a deal between him and Kiir could only be reached after several of his allies were fired from positions in the government.

A five-year civil war that had claimed more than 400, 000 lives had been ended by the agreement. According to SPLM-IO spokesman Pal Mai Deng, water minister, Lam’s arrest “puts the entire peace agreement in jeopardy.”

The Joint Defence Board, a crucial component of the Agreement responsible for the command and control of all forces, is crippled by this action, which “violates the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.” The statement by Deng said, “This act puts the entire agreement in danger.”

We are also “deeply concerned” about the heavy deployment of South Sudanese army [SSPDF] troops [around Machar’s residence, he wrote. These actions “erode” the parties’ trust and confidence.

Other senior military officials who are allied with Machar are being placed under house arrest, according to another Machar spokesman, Puok Both Baluang.

There is currently no indication of what led to the arrest or detention of [these] officials, Baluang told the Reuters news agency.

The South Sudanese army spokesperson, Major-General Lul Ruai Koang, stated in a statement late on Tuesday that he would not comment on Machar’s arrest or the troops circling his residence.

More than 2.5 million people were forced from their homes in December 2013 as a result of Kiir’s ouster, and almost half the 11 million-strong country was battling to find food.

The growing concern over the unrest in Upper Nile appears to have contributed to the tensions.

Lam and his troops are accused of working with the region’s alleged White Army rebels, who are largely from the same ethnic Nuer community.

According to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, there has been more fighting between the army and “armed youth” in Nasir County in Upper Nile, which has reportedly resulted in civilian deaths and injuries as well as injuries from armed personnel.

Just two years after South Sudan’s independence, the civil war broke out. Poverty and violence continue to plague the nation.