South Sudanese security forces arrested Peacebuilding Minister Stephen Par Kuol, worsening the country’s tenuous peace process. The arrest was confirmed by Vice President Riek Machar’s spokesperson Puok Both Baluang, who follows a string of detentions targeting Machar loyalists.
“The National Security Service (NSS) has struck again, arresting Hon. Stephen Par Kuol, Minister of Peacebuilding. from his office a few minutes ago,” Baluang tweeted on social media site X.
The arrest of Kuol takes place at a time of heightened violence in the strategic town of Nasir in the north, where national troops and White Army militia clashed. The haphazard militia force, mainly comprised of Machar’s Nuer ethnic fighters with guns, has been battling intensively with national troops.
The White Army lastly fought with Machar’s troops during the civil war in South Sudan (2013-2018) against President Salva Kiir’s largely Dinka-allied forces. Government leaders have claimed that Machar’s supporters worked with the militia, widening rifts in the unity government.
Information Minister Michael Makuei on Wednesday accused Machar’s loyalists of involvement in recent attacks on a military garrison in Nasir but said nothing about Kuol’s arrest.
This is the latest in a series of arrests that have followed recent detentions of Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol, a Nasir native, and Deputy Army Chief Gabriel Doup Lam, among other top military leaders loyal to Machar. Kuol was among the main politicians who negotiated the 2018 peace deal that brought an end to the civil war.
The arrests have raised alarm regarding the stability of South Sudan’s peace agreement, with tensions among competing groups within the government remaining on the rise.
