South Sudan’s Minister of Peacebuilding, Stephen Par Kuol, was arrested on Thursday by the National Security Service (NSS), marking the latest in a series of detentions of key allies of First Vice President Riek Machar.
Puok Both Baluang, Machar’s press secretary, confirmed the arrest, stating that Kuol was taken from his office minutes earlier.
Kuol, who also serves as the Secretary General of the National Transitional Committee (NTC), is the third high-ranking official from Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) party to be detained recently.
These arrests come days after the oil minister and deputy army chief, both of whom are aligned with Machar, were taken into custody.
The detentions have raised alarms about the potential destabilisation of South Sudan’s fragile peace agreement.
The country, which emerged from a five-year civil war in 2018 with a power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and Machar, is facing growing tensions that threaten the unity government.
Particularly concerning are violent clashes in Upper Nile State, where fighting between the army and rebel forces backed by Machar’s SPLM-IO has escalated, drawing calls for an end to the violence.
The United Nations reported heavy weaponry being used in the conflict, with multiple casualties, and regional nations along with Western embassies called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Critics of President Kiir’s actions argue that the recent arrests, along with his moves to consolidate power, are further exacerbating tensions and undermining the peace process.
Last month, Kiir dismissed two of the five vice presidents in the unity government without consulting other stakeholders, further deepening the political rift.
