South Sudanese security forces placed First Vice President and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar under house arrest in Juba on Wednesday night amid escalating political tensions, raising fears of a return to civil war, sources said.
South Sudan has been formally at peace since a 2018 agreement ended a five-year conflict between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Machar, which killed nearly 400,000 people. However, relations between the two leaders, who have dominated South Sudan’s politics for decades, remain strained.
Further details to follow shortly