A senior government official in South Sudan has said the reason for the arrest of allies of vice-president Riek Machar was linked to the unrest in Upper Nile State.
Michael Makuei, a spokesman of the government said those being detained including deputy army chief Gen Gabriel Doup Lam and oil minister Puot Kang Chol were fingered among those who aided and abetted an armed skirmish in the north of the country.
Makuei said they had backed the White Army, once the staunchest of allies with Mr Machar during the South Sudan civil war.
Machar’s party the SPLM/A-IO have strong connections with the militia whose fighters were accused of attacking an army base in Upper Nile recently.
According to Mr Makuei, a meeting by the country’s leadership including President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar over the spate of unrest in the state and how to address it had agreed that the opposition should convince the White Army to desist from its armed activity.
“Instead of telling them to stop, the opposition gave them the green light to attack the garrison” he claimed, adding that ”those who attacked the garrisons were SPLM/A-IO forces and not the White Army”.
There was a sense of panic in Juba on Wednesday after reports that Machar’s home in the capital was surrounded by government troops, although this was denied.
Pal Mai Deng, a spokesperson of Machar’s party has sounded the alarm that the spate of arrest was pulling the nation back to the dangerous prospect of ”reopening old political wounds” and reigniting past rivalries between Kiir and his nemesis.
Volatile South Sudan twice postponed elections originally scheduled for 2015 before deferring them to 2024.
The country’s precarious political situation and lack of funds were blamed for the postponement.
The new date for the polls is slated for December 2026.
South Sudan has never held elections since independence almost 14 years ago.
WN/as/APA