March 27, 2022 — The South Sudan peace agreement, officially dubbed as the Revitalized Agreement of the Resolution on the Conflict in South Sudan(R-ARCISS), is once again at the verge of collapse.Â
As tension continues to boil up, the First Vice President and the leader of the main armed opposition, Dr. Riek Machar, is feared to have been placed under strict curfew as of last evening, March 27th, 2022.Â
According to insiders, Machar’s loyal bodyguards from his party SPLA-IO were removed and denied access from 7 pm last evening and roads leading to Machar’s residence were also barricaded and manned by Kiir’s loyal forces.Â
“The roads leading to the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny’s residence cordoned off.. Close aides to the First Vice President blocked and no one was allowed access to or coming out from the residence” The insiders claimed.
“No one is being allowed to access the First Vice President’s residence from 7PM – 11:30PM today.” The report added.
The reports further claim that there are heavy deployments around J1 and limited access to the First Vice President residence.
“We would like to inform your good office of the current developing security situation in Juba as follow: heavy military deployment in and around J1. All 4 quadrants leading to the First Vice President’s residence are sealed off.” Part of the report reads.
Political relationship between president Kiir and Machar has significantly deteriorated within the last 4 days as the SPLM/A-IO suspended its participation in peace mechanisms as war escalated between Machar and Kiir forces in both Unity State and Upper Nile.
Machar has written letters to peace guarantors, IGAD and international community calling for urgent intervention but none of the parties has responded to Machar’s call for help at the time of this writing.
The main armed opposition leader returned to the capital Juba in February 2020 after spending two years in exile in Pretoria, South Africa, following the collapse of the earlier peace agreement but he has not left Juba for the past two years creating speculations that he was under house arrest.
