Increased violence and political friction in South Sudan threaten its fragile peace process, a United Nations rights body said on Saturday, days after the arrests of several officials allied to the country’s vice president.
Earlier this month, security forces loyal to President Salva Kiir arrested two ministers and several senior military officials allied with Riek Machar.
The arrests have raised fears for the future of a 2018 peace deal which ended a five-year civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar that cost nearly 400,000 lives.
“We are witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress. Rather than fuelling division and conflict, leaders must urgently refocus on the peace process, uphold the human rights of South Sudanese citizens, and ensure a smooth transition to democracy,” Yasmin Sooka, chairperson of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, said in a statement.
The arrests followed heavy clashes in recent weeks in the strategic northern town of Nasir between national forces and the White Army militia, a loosely-organised group mostly from the Nuer, Machar’s ethnic group.
Government spokesperson Michael Makuei said the arrests were made because the Machar-allied officials are in “conflict with the law”. He has accused forces loyal to Machar of collaborating with the White Army and attacking a military garrison near Nasir town on March 4.
Machar’s party has denied the accusations.
On Saturday, the National Security Services intelligence agency said it had arrested and detained several people “believed to have verified links to the military confrontation” in Nasir and another nearby town. It did not give the total number of arrests or their identities.
Makuei did not immediately respond when sought for comment on the rights commission’s statement.
On Friday, a South Sudanese general and dozens of soldiers were killed when a U.N. helicopter trying to evacuate them from Nasir came under attack, the government said.
