South Sudan’s Machar demands withdrawal of Ugandan army

Nairobi — South Sudan’s first vice-president, Riek Machar, has accused Uganda of violating a UN arms embargo by entering the country with armoured and air force units, and conducting air strikes around the country.

In a letter to the UN, AU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development regional bloc, Machar wrote that Uganda’s military intervention in South Sudan had violated a 2018 peace deal, which ended a brutal five-year civil war.

Uganda said it had deployed troops in South Sudan earlier this month at the government’s request after a breakdown in the turbulent relationship between Machar and President Salva Kiir.

In early March, security forces rounded up several of Machar’s most senior allies after clashes in the northeast between the military and the Nuer White Army ethnic militia, which the government accuses Machar of supporting.

Though they fought together against Kiir’s forces during the 2013-18 conflict, Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) party denies any ongoing links with the militia.

The UN has warned a rise in hate speech could plunge the country into another war.

Uganda fears a full-blown conflagration in its oil-producing northern neighbour could send waves of refugees across the border and potentially create instability.

“The Ugandan forces are currently taking part in air strikes against civilians,” Machar said in the March 23 letter, calling for pressure on Uganda to withdraw its troops.

Machar’s office verified the authenticity of the letter, seen by Reuters. Uganda and South Sudan’s military spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

South Sudan’s army attacked SPLM-IO military forces stationed at a camp near the capital Juba on Monday night, the party’s military spokesperson Lam Paul Gabriel said on X. South Sudan’s information minister did not immediately respond to the accusation.

Uganda’s parliament last week retrospectively approved the deployment in South Sudan, first announced on March 11.

Ugandan defence minister Jacob Markson Oboth said the deployment was “to avoid a security catastrophe” in Africa’s newest nation.

In a series of now-deleted X posts early on Sunday, Ugandan military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba wrote: “I’m tired of killing Nuer,” referring to Machar’s ethnic group.

“Tell your leader Riek Machar to come and kneel down before ‘our’ President HE Salva Kiir,” wrote Kainerugaba, who has a history of making inflammatory statements that have sparked diplomatic tensions in the region.

Reuters