East African Bloc Urges South Sudan To Free Arrested Officials

A bloc of East African nations on Wednesday called for South Sudans government to release detained officials and lift security restrictions as part of efforts to prevent recent mounting factional tensions from erupting into renewed war.

South Sudan has formally been at peace since a 2018 peace deal ended a five-year civil war that pitted forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against those of First Vice President Riek Machar and killed nearly 400 000 people.

However, relations between the two political rivals, who have dominated the oil-producers political scene for decades, remain strained.

The arrest of officials including a deputy military chief and two ministers allied to Machar in the capital Juba last week, coupled with a wave of deadly clashes around a strategic northern town, are widely seen as jeopardising the peace deal.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development IGAD, a bloc of eight East African nations, held a virtual heads of state meeting on Wednesday aimed at heading off a crisis in South Sudan.