South Sudan’s ruling coalition, the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNoU) had been a loose arrangement meant to patch up peace in the country.
But last week, the seams of this fabric looked likely to tear more after authorities detained allies of First Vice-President, Dr Riek Machar, for fueling a militia uprising in the eastern region of Upper Nile.
By Friday, all those detained were linked to Dr Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO). They included top military personnel, a petroleum minister, and a minister for reconciliation.
Dr Machar had also been confined at his Juba residence, technically placed under house arrest.
“No going back to war,” President Salva Kiir declared on Wednesday in a statement issued by his spokesman Michael Makuei, who is also the Minister for Information.
However, events on the ground show a growing rift within the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) over the failure to implement the 2018 peace agreement and the dilapidated economy.
The Kiir faction believes that Dr Machar’s SPLM-IO is supportive of the ‘White Army’ militia that has been fighting the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) in Nasir, Upper Nile.
Following news that government troops had encircled Dr Machar's residence in the capital Juba, there was a panic in the city, with those close to President Kiir associating him with the ‘White Army’ attacks on a military installation in the north of the country.
The ‘White Army’—comprising youth from the Nuer ethnic group—have been close allies of Dr Machar for many years and have been opposed to President Kiir’s leadership.
Mr Makuei revealed that Gen Gabriel Lam- the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces of the SSPDF, Minister for Petroleum, Puot Kang Chol and seven others were detained due to their “conflict with the law.”
“It is worth mentioning that the leadership of the SPLM-IO in a meeting had distanced itself from the White Army but nevertheless promised to talk to the White Army, which they did, but instead gave them the green light to proceed and attack the garrison,” said Makuei in a press statement released on March 5.
SPLM-IO leadership, through party spokesperson, Pal Mai Deng, denied any link with fighting in Upper Nile and warned that the wave of arrests is dragging the country back to the risky possibility of "reopening old political wounds" and rekindling old rivalries between President Kiir and Dr Machar.
Mr Deng said in a statement that detention of SPLM-IO elements in the unity government is already causing feelings of alienation and mistrust, which could scatter the 2018 peace agreement, officially known as the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
While observers say that the ‘White Army’ attacks in Upper Nile have been fueled by the growing discontent in the region regarding the politics and economy, the suspicion over the link between SPLM-IO and the militias persists.
Karbino Kiir Goch, a human rights activist, accused the Governor of Unity State-Riek Bim Top, and his security adviser-Gen Malieth Kak of financing the ‘White Army.’
The oil-rich Unity State is Dr Machar’s home county. The Governor’s office did not immediately respond to the allegations but his party, SPLM-IO rejected associating its politicians with the mayhem.
Besides Upper Nile, there has been fighting in SPLM-IO-controlled areas such as Abyei, Twic, Western Equatoria and Jonglei. This saw President Kiir convene a presidency meeting on March 3, which decided to deploy new SSPDF in Nasir and ordered the ‘White Army’ to retreat.
The meeting was attended by Dr Machar, Vice President for the Economic Cluster-Dr Benjamin Bol Mel, Vice President for the Service Cluster-Josephine Lagu and leaders of various political parties.
In a joint statement, diplomats from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) said that escalating tensions and armed clashes in Nasir threaten to undermine the hard-won gains achieved in the implementation of the R-ARCSS and exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in the region.
“We call upon all the parties and their affiliate groups to immediately cease hostilities and exercise maximum restraint. We emphasise the paramount importance of upholding the Permanent Ceasefire and adhering to the provisions of the R-ARCSS,” said the statement signed by envoys from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
On Wednesday evening, Ter Chuol Gatkuoth, a White Army leader in Nasir, told Radio Tamazuj that his forces had successfully pushed the government troops out of the town. The SSPDF did not immediately issue an official statement on the situation.
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