President Salva Kiir and Dr Reik Machar – Courtesy
Regional and worldwide strain is mounting on South Sudan’s leaders to ease rigidity and rescue the nation from sliding again to civil warfare, following outbreak of lethal violence in Upper Nile State and different areas.
Kenyan President William Ruto stated on Thursday he spoke with President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar in regards to the escalating safety state of affairs – which occurs solely weeks after an prolonged transitional interval formally took impact to implement the 2018 peace deal.
In assertion on his official social media platforms, President Ruto stated he knowledgeable the South Sudanese leaders that regional consultations to find out the way in which ahead for the state of affairs is underway.
“I implored both leaders to engage in dialogue towards fostering peace in the country even as the region works towards stabilization of South Sudan under the IGAD’s strategic framework,” he stated.
Violent clashes erupted in Nasir on March 4 between SSPDF and closely armed native youths, threatening to derail positive aspects made within the 2018 peace settlement which ended 5 years of devastating civil warfare.
The battle erupted barely hours after a high-level presidency meeting chaired by President Kiir and attended by First Vice President Machar and different vice presidents, resolved to ease rigidity within the area.
In Juba, some high SPLM-IO ministers and officers together with Petroleum Minister Puot Kang and Deputy Chief of Defense Force Duop Lam have been detained for allegedly being in conflict with the law.
The opposition group has known as for the discharge of its political and navy detainees who it stated had been “arbitrarily arrested”.
– Calls for peace –
The Kenyan President isn’t the primary overseas official to voice his concern in regards to the fragile safety state of affairs in South Sudan.
On March 5, the ambassadors of IGAD international locations in Juba expressed deep concern over violence and appealed to the transitional authorities to handle the insecurities.
In a joint assertion, the ambassadors of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda stated they had been alarmed by “the recent reports of escalating tensions and armed clashes” in Nasir.
This state of affairs, the diplomats stated, threatens to undermine the hard-won positive aspects achieved within the 2018 accord, and exacerbates the already dire humanitarian state of affairs within the nation.
“We call upon all the Parties and their affiliate groups to immediately cease hostilities and exercise maximum restraint,” it acknowledged.
“We emphasize the paramount importance of upholding the Permanent Ceasefire and adhering to the provisions of the revitalized peace agreement.”
Western diplomatic missions in South Sudan additionally stated they “deplored” the hostilities in Upper Nile and raised issues in regards to the detention of political and navy officers in Juba, urging all events to train most restraint.
Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, in addition to the European Union, stated they’re shocked by the hostilities which included important lack of life.
They added that the nation’s political leaders should reveal dedication to peaceable dialogue and put the folks’s curiosity earlier than their very own.
The South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) has written to president Kiir to urgently handle mounting hostilities throughout the nation and guarantee political detainees arrested are launched for the sake of peace.
– No going again to warfare –
Addressing the media on March 5, Information Minister Michael Makuei dismissed fears that the present rigidity in Nasir County might result in all-out warfare in South Sudan.
Hon. Makuei reaffirmed the federal government’s dedication to the peace course of, reiterating President Kiir’s earlier remarks that he wouldn’t enable the nation to return to civil warfare.
“We are not taking people back to the war. This is why we are talking. Otherwise, we were going to work in silence if that was too mean taking people back war and refrain from calling on anybody to do whatever we think is correct,” he stated.
“Our president had committed himself so many times, once and every time, that I will not take you back to war.”
Makuei acknowledged that the federal government was working to include the unrest in Nasir and Ulang and known as upon the general public to chorus from circulating and consuming illicit social media contents that incites furtherance of skirmishes.
In January 2025, violent conflicts raged in Nagero County in Western Equatoria State between the SSPDF and SPLA-IO over the dismantling of checkpoints and roadblocks, displacing 1000’s of individuals together with those that fled the disaster in Tambura.
Violence was additionally reported in Jur River County in Western Bahr el Ghazal State between the SSPDF and SPLA-IO.
The UN Mission in South Sudan expressed concerns over the military confrontation between models of the nationwide military and SPLA-IO in Western Equatoria and known as for nationwide authorities intervention.
A human rights activist additionally appealed to the Presidency to urgently initiate the unification and deployment of armed forces of the peace events and guarantee strict cantonment to stop additional violence.
Bol Deng Bol, Executive Director of INTREPID South Sudan, stated unifying the forces is the one resolution to the intermittent violence involving factions of the peace events throughout the nation.