South Sudan’s security forces arrested oil ministers and an army general, a senior member of the main opposition, sparking fears that a peace agreement to end the civil war could be threatened.
Gabriel Doup Lam and Puot Kang Chol are senior figures of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA-OIO), both ally of Vice President Riek Machar and rival Riek Machar of Salva Kiir.
SPLA-OIO spokesman Col Lam Gabriel Paul told the BBC that the government has no reason to provide for the arrest.
South Sudan is the latest country in the world, leaving Sudan in 2011.
Five years later, 400,000 people died and 2.5 million were forced to die from their homes, and a peace agreement was reached in 2018.
But since then, it’s full of problems.
President Kiel said South Sudan will not return to the war despite the arrest and tensions, government spokesman Michael Makuei told reporters in the capital Juba on Wednesday.
General Lin is in charge of the opposition military department, which has not yet integrated into the military. He was detained Tuesday.
Chol was taken away by security forces in the middle of the night.
Machar’s house in the capital Juba was surrounded by troops from South Sudanese troops and was then withdrawn.
The BBC learned that all other senior military officials with Machar were arrested.
Despite a peace deal in 2018, First Vice President Rick Machar (L) and President Salva Kiel (R) have a controversial relationship [AFP]
Through these arrests, the peace agreement is pending.
Machar spokesman Pal Mai Deng told AFP that Gen Lam’s arrests “violated” the peace bill.
“The bill puts the entire agreement at risk,” he said.
He called on the international community to intervene.
The arrest comes after reports that the White militia and government forces occupied a strategic town near the Ethiopian border near the Ethiopian border.
During the Civil War, the White Army fought Machar.
Some in the army loyal to Kiel accused Machar’s allies of supporting the rebels.
The United Nations and the African Union warn that violence in this region may spread.
Ter Manang, head of the Juba-based Peace and Advocacy Center, told Reuters that combat in the region could threaten the peace agreement.
“Unless the situation is managed by the country’s top leadership, the country may slip into the war,” he said.
The country has never held elections – these countries will now go through years of delays in 2026.
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