Ruto reveals reason for sending Raila to South Sudan
President William Ruto, on Friday, March 28, 2025, explained the reason behind picking former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as the special envoy to South Sudan.
Addressing development partners and other diplomats during the launch of the Shirika Plan for Refugees and Host Communities, State House, Nairobi, the head of state indicated that the decision to deploy Raila is to help contain the situation and reduce the number of people seeking asylum in Kenya due to instability.
Ruto maintained that unless Kenya actively intervenes, the country risks being forced to welcome more refugees fleeing from political instability in the East African nation.
“Just this morning, I have sent the honourable Raila Odinga, a former prime minister, to South Sudan. There is a situation that could lead to the export of more refugees from that country unless it is contained,” Ruto stated.
“We are engaged currently in the situation in DRC; we have a robust conversation on containing the situation in Sudan. So we are doing what we can as Kenya, working with partners and regional mechanisms to see to it that we contain situations that could lead to people seeking asylum.
“We are actively making sure that we do what we can to make sure that we have less and less refugees,” he added.
Raila’s itinerary
Raila flew out on Friday morning, March 28, 2025, to meet with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar, who was placed under house arrest this week, escalating tensions.
The former prime minister was deployed to help press for de-escalation of the situation.
This is after Ruto, through a statement, revealed plans to deploy a special envoy to help address the situation in South Sudan.
“I had a telephone conversation with President Salva Kiir about the situation that led to the arrest and detention of First Vice President Riek Machar in South Sudan. After consultations with President Museveni and PM Abiy, I’m sending a special envoy to South Sudan to engage, try to de-escalate, and report back to us,” Ruto wrote on X.
Regional bodies call out South Sudan
With the United Nations sounding an alarm over the situation in South Sudan, other regional bodies also sent strong messages condemning the detention.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which helped mediate the 2018 peace deal, expressed concern at Machar’s and Angelina Teny’s detention.
“These developments seriously undermine the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and risk plunging the country back into violent conflict,” the regional bloc said.
The African Union also implored Salva Kiir and Riek Machar to give dialogue a chance and avoid confrontations.
