Rift in South Sudan's multiparty unity government after arrest of opposition party leaders

By Benjamin Takpiny

JUBA, South Sudan (AA) - South Sudan's multiparty unity government has been shaken by the arrest of leaders from the main opposition party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM IO), which condemned the arrest of Petroleum Minister Puot Kang in the early hours of Wednesday.

"The SPLM IO condemned this systematic targeting of its leading members, both in politics and in the military, and calls for their immediate release," Pal Mai Deng, the party's spokesman and chairperson of the SPLM IO's National Committee for Information and Communication, said in a statement sent to Anadolu.

He stated that the arrest of the petroleum minister occurred after their senior army general was detained on Tuesday afternoon.

After four years of armed conflict between 2013 and 2016, all parties in the country agreed to form a unity government in 2018.

South Sudan formed the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity, or unity government, on Feb. 22, 2020, as part of an agreement signed by all parties on Sept. 12, 2018, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

“This morning, we received information regarding the arbitrary arrest of the Minister of Petroleum, Hon. Puot Kang Chol, who was taken from his residence at 2:00 a.m. by security personnel suspected to be from the National Security Service. This occurred less than 24 hours after the arrest and detention of SPLM/SPLA IO Acting Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Defense Forces of SSPDF, Gen. Gabriel Doup Lam,” Deng said in the statement.

He urged the agreement's guarantors and partners to intervene to prevent the country from experiencing full-scale violence again.

He also stated, “We are also gravely concerned about the heavy deployment of SSPDF around the residence of H.E. Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, the First Vice President and Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLM/A (IO).

“These actions erode confidence and trust among the parties and jeopardize efforts to de-escalate the current violence that erupted in Nasir County of Upper Nile State.”

No reason was given by the government for the arrests, which came after an armed group allied to Machar overran an army base in the country’s Upper Nile state.

Later, Information Minister Micheal Makuei Lueth confirmed the arrests of the petroleum minister and a senior army general, claiming they were detained in violation of the law.

However, Lueth did not provide any additional information about the arrest of officials from the main opposition party.