JUBA: South Sudan\u2019s opposition on Monday called for an armed mobilization to carry out \u201cregime change\u201d in response to plans to put its leader on trial for treason and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
A fragile power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Riek Machar, has been unraveling for months, threatening to return the young nation to a civil war that left 400,000 dead in the 2010s.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Machar was charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity and stripped of his position as first vice president in the unity government, having already spent months under house arrest.<\/p>\n
He was accused of ordering an ethnic militia\u2019s attack on a military base in March that the government said killed more than 250 soldiers.<\/p>\n
Machar\u2019s faction denies the charges and says they are part of Kiir\u2019s efforts to sideline the opposition and consolidate power.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current regime … is a setup of dictatorship, peace spoilers and state capture that is holding power illegally and by violence,\u201d his party said in a statement, signed by acting chairman Oyet Nathaniel Pierino and shared on social media.<\/p>\n
The party and its armed forces \u201cshall work to effect in the Republic of South Sudan a regime change,\u201d the statement said, calling on all supporters \u201cto report for National Service in defense of the citizens and the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but was quickly plunged into a devastating conflict between Kiir and Machar.<\/p>\n
The five-year war ended with a peace deal in 2018 but attempts by the international community to ensure a democratic transition have failed.<\/p>\n
Elections due to have taken place in December 2024 were again postponed to 2026 and the two sides have not merged their armed forces.<\/p>\n
Daniel Akech, a senior analyst on South Sudan for the International Crisis Group, said Monday\u2019s mobilization call was not a major event in itself since Machar\u2019s supporters were already mobilized.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more of a political statement,\u201d he said, adding that Machar\u2019s faction also lacked the \u201ccapacity\u201d to seriously challenge the government.<\/p>\n
But it serves as a \u201cred warning\u201d to global partners who thought the power-sharing deal could still be salvaged, he said.<\/p>\n
The attack on the military base in March took place in Upper Nile State, one of Machar\u2019s strongholds, by a loose band of fighters from his ethnic Nuer community known as the White Army.<\/p>\n
But Machar\u2019s supporters dismiss the charges against him and blame the government for destroying the peace deal.<\/p>\n
The government \u201chas been arresting senior members of the (opposition). It has been waging war against us,\u201d Pal Mai Deng, a spokesman for Machar\u2019s faction, told AFP.<\/p>\n
With Machar \u201cbeing forced to appear before a kangaroo court and imposing charges against him, (it) is a clear indication that the SPLM-IG has chosen instability over peace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan called in a statement on \u201cthe parties to work together to resolve political deadlocks, reduce violence and recommit to the full implementation of the\u201d power-sharing agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JUBA: South Sudan\u2019s opposition on Monday called for an armed mobilization to carry out \u201cregime change\u201d in response to plans to put its leader on trial for treason and crimes against humanity. A fragile power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Riek Machar, has been unraveling for months, threatening to return the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":86855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86856,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86843\/revisions\/86856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}