Kenya’s former prime minister Raila Odinga arrived in Juba on Friday to mediate the escalating crisis in South Sudan, which threatens to end the fragile peace deal between rival factions.
First Vice President Riek Machar’s arrest on Wednesday evening by forces loyal to President Salva Kiir prompted UN chief Antonio Guterres to warn that the country risks “collapse into civil war and the dismantling of the peace agreement”.
Odinga’s spokesman told AFP that the former premier “arrived today” in Juba.
A power-sharing deal signed in 2018 between Kiir and Machar has been gradually unravelling, risking a return of the civil war that killed around 400,000 people in five years.
The deputy chair of Machar’s party said his arrest had “abrogated” the agreement.
“The prospect for peace and stability in South Sudan has now been put into serious jeopardy,” Oyet Nathaniel Pierino said in a statement on Thursday.
A convoy of 20 heavily armed vehicles entered Machar’s residence in the capital Juba late on Wednesday and arrested him, according to a statement issued by a member of his party.
On the same day, artillery fire was heard near the capital, but by Friday, Juba seemed calm, with shops open and people on the streets, an AFP correspondent observed.
The international community fears a resurgence of war in the world’s youngest nation and has strongly condemned the arrest of Machar.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), warned that the country was “on the brink of relapsing into widespread conflict”.
The US State Department on Thursday called on Kiir to “reverse this action and prevent further escalation” in a post on X.
De-escalate
Kenyan President William Ruto, who chairs the East African Community (EAC), announced Thursday that he was sending a special envoy “to engage, try de-escalate”.
The decision was taken after a telephone conversation with Kiir and consultations with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ruto said.
“The Special Envoy is presently engaged with the escalating situation in our sisterly country,” Principal Secretary of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on X.
South Sudan — which declared independence from Sudan in 2011 — has remained plagued by poverty and insecurity since the peace deal in 2018.
Analysts say the ageing Kiir, 73, has been seeking to ensure his succession and sideline Machar politically for months through cabinet reshuffles.
More than 20 of Machar’s political and military allies in the unity government and army have also been arrested since February, many held incommunicado.
Machar’s party says three of its military bases around Juba have been attacked by government forces since Monday.
The training centres were established to prepare opposition forces for integration into the unified army — a key provision of the 2018 peace agreement aimed at uniting government and opposition troops.
None of the incidents has been confirmed by the Kiir-aligned army, the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), although it accused Machar’s forces of aggressive manoeuvres from one of the bases on Monday.
The British government reduced its diplomatic staff to a minimum and urged its citizens to leave the country on Thursday evening.
Germany and Norway have closed their embassies in Juba, while the United States has scaled back its diplomatic staff to a minimum and advised its citizens to leave.
This week, the head of UNMISS condemned indiscriminate attacks on civilians, particularly in the northeast of the country.
Machar’s arrest comes after weeks of clashes between federal forces loyal to Kiir and the “White Army”, a militia accused by the government of collaborating with Machar.
