International Pressure Mounts on South Sudan to Release Detained Opposition Leaders

A growing chorus of international voices, including the United States and several European nations, are calling for the release of South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar and other high-ranking opposition officials currently in detention, Bloomberg reports.

The call comes amidst escalating concerns over renewed violence and the fragility of the 2018 power-sharing agreement.

Six embassies, including those of Germany and the United Kingdom, issued a joint statement expressing their deep concern over the “continued politically driven violence in South Sudan, repeated violations of the ceasefire, and the absence of visible efforts by the transitional government to restore and maintain peace.”

The embassies emphasized the need to avoid any “unilateral actions” that could further undermine the fragile peace established by the 2018 agreement, which brought Machar back into the government and officially ended five years of devastating civil war.

Riek Machar, a former rebel leader, has been under house arrest since early March, accused by the government of plotting a new rebellion against President Salva Kiir. Alongside Machar, several members of his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) party have also been detained following recent clashes between government troops and a militia group aligned with Machar, known as the White Army.