Kenya is dispatching former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to South Sudan as a special envoy to ease rising tensions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar. The growing rift threatens to plunge the country back into conflict.
Machar has been under house arrest in Juba since Wednesday night, according to his party, effectively nullifying the fragile 2018 peace deal that ended South Sudan’s five-year civil war. The agreement, which brought Kiir and Machar into a unity government, has struggled to implement key provisions, including national elections and the integration of rival forces into a unified army.
The United Nations warned that Machar’s detention pushes South Sudan closer to renewed war. “This takes the country one step closer to the edge of collapse,” said a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Tensions escalated after clashes earlier this month in Nasir, where the army battled the White Army, a Nuer militia. The government accuses Machar’s camp of supporting the group, a claim his party denies. Following the violence, Kiir’s forces arrested several of Machar’s top allies, including the petroleum minister and the deputy army chief.
Fighting between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar has since erupted in multiple locations, including near Juba.
Kenyan President William Ruto, who chairs the East African Community (EAC), said he had spoken with Kiir about Machar’s detention and was sending Odinga to mediate. Odinga’s spokesperson confirmed he would travel to Juba on Friday.
Ruto also consulted Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, whose troops were deployed to South Sudan this month to help secure Juba, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, whose country has hosted past South Sudan peace talks.
South Sudan remains fragile, with tensions between Kiir and Machar threatening to reignite a conflict that killed hundreds of thousands between 2013 and 2018.
