His party said Thursday that the arrest of Riek Machar, the first vice president in detaining South Sudan, actually collapsed, ending the 2013-2018 civil war peace agreement.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan calls for restraint, saying the country is on the brink of recurrence to widespread conflict.
“This will not only destroy South Sudan, but also affect the entire region,” Unmiss said in a statement.
The five-year civil war mainly follows race battles, leaving thousands of people in the country independent of Sudan in 2011.
Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, vice chairman of the Sultan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), said Machar’s detention means the agreement has been “repealed”.
He said, “It effectively put this agreement in a collapse and therefore the prospect of peace and stability in South Sudan is now in serious danger.”
South Sudan’s defense minister and national security chief “forcedly” into Machar’s residence in the capital Juba on Wednesday night to release the arrest warrant, SPLM-OIO said.
Machar was detained at home with his wife and was accused of supporting the white army, the militia clashed with the troops of Sultan Nasir, and this month, SPLM-IO official Reath Muoch Muoch Tang said in a statement.
Machar’s party denies ongoing ties to combat whites during the war.
The arrests mark a revealing of the peace process, the UN Human Rights Commission in South Sudan said.
“Deliberate targeting opposition leaders and civilians represents a reckless disregard for international law and the future of the country,” committee chairman Yasmin Sooka said in a statement.
Neighboring Kenya, the African Union and the intergovernmental regional economic group also called for restraint.
South Sudan’s army and government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Machar or his party’s statement on the peace agreement.
United Nations calls for peace commitment
Reuters reporters said that on Thursday, troops were deployed in large quantities near Machar’s house. The United Nations reported on Wednesday that the battle between forces loyal to President Salva Kiel and Machar, near Juba.
The US Bureau of African Affairs urged Kiel to release Machar and called on South Sudan’s leaders to “show their established commitment to peace.”
Machar shares power with his rival Kiir, the coalition government is slow to formulate key terms of a peace agreement, including national elections and the unity of two forces in one army.
Political analysts say Kiel has been trying to improve his position by rounding up some of Machar’s highest allies, inviting Uganda’s troops to secure the capital and naming consultant Benjamin Bol Mel as second vice president.
Kiir, 73, is preparing Bol Mel for businessmen on the U.S. sanctions list, instead of his contact with the construction company accused of being laundered to inherit him. South Sudan said the decision of the blacklist BOL MEL at that time was based on misleading information.
The United Nations has warned that the violence of Nasir is about 450 kilometers northeast of Juba, and the rise in hate speech may reignite the civil war along national boundaries.
