Keypoints:
- VP Machar accused over Nasir base killings
- Kiir removes Machar and key allies from office
- UN warns of collapsing peace deal
SOUTH Sudan’s government has charged Vice-President Riek Machar with treason, murder and crimes against humanity following a deadly assault on a military base in Nasir County that left more than 250 soldiers dead, Justice Minister Joseph Geng Akech announced on Thursday.
Akech said Machar and 20 co-accused face counts including conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property and gross violations of international humanitarian law.
‘These crimes were marked by gross violations of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, including the desecration of corpses, persecution of civilians, and attacks on humanitarian workers,’ Akech told reporters in Juba, citing an official read-out.
White Army assault on Nasir base
The indictment stems from a four-day attack between March 3 and 7, when the White Army—a militia largely drawn from Machar’s Nuer ethnic community—overran the Nasir base in Upper Nile State.
Government officials say several senior officers, including a general, were killed. A United Nations helicopter sent to rescue soldiers came under fire, killing the pilot.
Akech vowed that ‘those who commit atrocities against the people of South Sudan, against our armed forces, and against humanitarian personnel will be held accountable, no matter their position or political influence’.
Kiir consolidates power
President Salva Kiir swiftly issued a decree removing Machar from his post as vice-president and dismissed Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Choi, who is also charged. State television broadcast the announcement as security forces tightened their grip in the capital.
The power-sharing pact between Kiir and Machar—meant to end years of civil conflict—has been weakening for months. Machar was placed under house arrest shortly after the Nasir attack, and many of his allies have been detained.
Fragile peace under strain
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) warned that the violence marked ‘an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress’.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but soon fell into a five-year civil war between Kiir and Machar that killed an estimated 400,000 people. A 2018 power-sharing deal ended the conflict, yet democratic reforms remain stalled.
Elections originally scheduled for December 2024 have been postponed for another two years, adding to fears of renewed instability.
International concern
The United States recently deported eight convicted criminals to South Sudan in July, only one of whom was a South Sudanese citizen, drawing fresh attention to the country’s fragile security and governance.
Analysts warn that the combination of delayed elections, deep political rifts and escalating violence could unravel the 2018 peace agreement and plunge South Sudan back into conflict.
