Ruto sends envoy to ease tensions in South Sudan

President William Ruto

President William Ruto has telephoned his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kirr following reports of the arrest of First Vice President Riak Machar.

Following their conversation, Ruto announced that he is sending a special envoy to South Sudan to ease tensions.

Ruto noted that he consulted President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali before making the decision.

“Had a phone call with President Salva Kiir on the situation leading to the arrest and detention of 1st vice President Riak Machar in South Sudan. After consultations with President Museveni and PM Abiy, I'm sending a special envoy to South Sudan to engage, try deescalate and brief us back,” he wrote on X.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has called on all parties to exercise restraint amid reports of the arrest of Machar.

UMISS chief Nicholas Haysom said the country risked losing the “hard-won gains of the past seven years” if the world’s newest nation returned to “a state of war”, following reports that Machar was arrested at his residence in the capital, Juba.

“Tonight, the country’s leaders stand on the brink of relapsing into widespread conflict or taking the country forward towards peace, recovery and democracy in the spirit of the consensus that was reached in 2018 when they signed and committed to implementing a Revitalised Peace Agreement,” Haysom said in a statement.

Machar’s party has said the arrest has effectively collapsed the 2018 peace deal that ended the country's five-year civil war.

Sudan People's Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM/IO) said an armed convoy led by top security officials entered Machar's residence in the capital, Juba, and disarmed his bodyguards late on Wednesday.

The party said Machar was detained alongside his wife Angelina Teny, who is the country's interior minister.

"The arrest and detention of H.E Dr Riek Machar effectively brings the [peace] agreement to a collapse," said SPLM/IO deputy leader Oyet Nathaniel Pierino.

The government is yet to comment on Machar's reported house-arrest.

Addressing religious leaders on Wednesday, Kiir said "he will never return the country to war".

The UN has been warning that South Sudan is on the brink of a return to civil war following an escalation of conflict between Machar and the president that has been building for weeks.