Tensions have been rising in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, as President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar disagree on how to carry out some of the 2018 peace agreement’s security provisions.
Government forces are said to have encircled Machar’s home on Sunday evening.
“Without warning, the SSPDF deployed military forces with armored personnel carriers on the highways leading to my home.” Those who attempted to enter the house were turned away by the military. The deployment was only removed at 6.15 a.m. [Monday] with no explanation,” Machar stated in a statement.
He also stated that the deployment of the South Sudan People Defense Forces (SSPDF) jeopardizes peace efforts.
“Such an act undermines trust and confidence building, reconciliation and healing among the people, and conversation among peace parties, and disrupts the peace implementation process.”
“It also caused uncertainties domestically, regionally, and internationally, and it reflects very poorly on peace parties’ commitment to peacefully address disputes,” he said.
He recounted episodes in 2013 and 2016 when fighting broke out between Kiir’s supporters and his army, plunging the country into a civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions more.
Last Monday, the SPLM/A-IO, led by Machar, withdrew from the peace monitoring mechanism in protest of its “peace partner’s” continuous “unprovoked” attacks on its bases.
Fissures between loyalist forces have slowed the execution of a shaky 2018 peace accord that put a halt to the hostilities.
President Kiir downplayed the military deployment to Machar’s house in a Monday evening state address, saying it was a usual security procedure.
Since its independence in 2011, South Sudan has been plagued by chronic instability, having spent nearly half of its existence at war.
The United Nations has regularly chastised South Sudan’s leadership for inciting violence, restricting political liberties, and stealing public funds.
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