South Sudan opposition blames Salva Kirr of being a tribal President
South Sudan’s opposition has accused the government of trying to enforce “authoritarian control and one-tribe rule” after First Vice President Riek Machar was charged, opens new tab with orchestrating militia attacks and suspended from his role.
Machar’s SPLM-IO party rejected the charges against him and 20 others which included murder, treason and crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in raids by the White Army militia in the northeast in March.
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Machar’s detention under house arrest since March has ignited international fears of a renewal of a devastating 2013-2018 civil war between his ethnic Nuer forces and Dinka fighters loyal to his longtime rival President Salva Kiir.
Kiir and Machar served in a unity government as part of a peace deal that ended that war, but their partnership remained strained and sporadic violence has continued between the two sides.
“The charges are fabricated to abrogate the (peace agreement), sideline Dr. Machar and the SPLM-IO, and entrench total government control,” Machar’s SPLM-IO party said in a statement late on Thursday shortly after the justice ministry announced the charges.
Political analysts say Kiir has long been seeking to replace Machar with his close ally, Second Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel, who was sanctioned by the U.S. over suspicions that he received preferential treatment in securing government contracts.
South Sudanese officials have asked the U.S. to lift those sanctions during recent bilateral discussions, Joseph Szlavik, a lobbyist working for Juba in Washington, told Reuters last month.
Those conversations have also touched on sending more U.S. deportees to South Sudan following the arrival in July of eight men, including seven from third countries, Szlavik said.
South Sudan Vice President charged
South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar has been charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in attacks by an ethnic militia against federal forces in March, the justice minister said on Thursday.
Hours after the minister’s announcement, President Salva Kiir suspended Machar from his post, a decree read on state radio said, without giving more details.
The charges against Machar and his suspension escalate a feud between the country’s two main political camps – the other led by Kiir – which faced off in a 2013-2018 civil war in which an estimated 400,000 people died.
Kiir also suspended Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol, who was charged alongside Machar, the decree said.
Machar has been under house arrest since March in connection with attacks by the White Army militia in the northeastern town of Nasir.
International powers have repeatedly called for Machar’s release, warning his detention could tip the country back into civil war.
“Evidence further reveals that the White Army operated under the command and influence of certain leaders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in Opposition (SPLM/A-iO), including Dr. Riek Machar Teny,” Justice Minister Joseph Geng told reporters.
“While the government of the Republic of South Sudan appreciates the engagement of international partners, public and media on the Nasir incident, this matter is now sub judice,” he said.
Kiir and Machar had served in a unity government as part of a peace deal that ended the civil war, but their partnership remained tenuous and sporadic violence has continued between the two sides.
Besides Machar, 20 other people were indicted in the case. Thirteen of those are at large, Geng said.
Edmund Yakani, executive director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, a South Sudan activist group, said in statement that he hoped the court trying Machar and the seven others would be fair and “a competent court of law, not a kangaroo court of law.”
