NAIROBI (Reuters) – A bloc of East African nations on Wednesday called for South Sudan’s government to release detained officials and lift security restrictions as part of efforts to prevent recent mounting factional tensions from erupting into renewed war.
South Sudan has formally been at peace since a 2018 peace deal ended a five-year civil war that pitted forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against those of First Vice President Riek Machar and killed nearly 400,000 people.
However, relations between the two political rivals, who have dominated the oil-producer’s political scene for decades, remain strained.
The arrest of officials including a deputy military chief and two ministers allied to Machar in the capital Juba last week, coupled with a wave of deadly clashes around a strategic northern town, are widely seen as jeopardising the peace deal.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a bloc of eight East African nations, held a virtual heads of state meeting on Wednesday aimed at heading off a crisis in South Sudan.
“The government… is urged to forthwith release detained officials, unless credible evidence warrants legal proceedings conducted transparently and in accordance with due process,” a report presented by IGAD executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said.
It also called for a restoration of “standard security arrangements”.
Government spokesperson Michael Makuei, who at the time of their arrest had said the officials were in “conflict with the law”, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The government accuses forces loyal to Machar of collaborating with the White Army militia, a loosely-organised group mostly from Machar’s Nuer ethnic group, and attacking a military garrison near the northern town of Nasir on March 4.
The White Army and national forces have faced off in a series of heavy clashes in recent weeks.
Machar’s party has denied the accusations.
One of the ministers and eight lower ranking officials intitially detained have since been released, Machar’s spokesperson said, but 20 others remain in custody.
South Sudanese troops were also deployed around Machar’s residence last week, although he has been able to travel to his office, his spokesperson said.
On Wednesday, Machar’s spokesperson said another lawmaker allied to the vice president had been arrested while en route to parliament.
(Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Joe Bavier)
