South Sudan’s First Vice President, Riek Machar, has accused Uganda of violating a United Nations arms embargo by deploying armoured units and airstrikes in the country.
In a letter addressed to the United Nations, the African Union, and the IGAD regional bloc, Machar claimed on March 25 Uganda’s military intervention breached the 2018 peace agreement that ended the five-year civil war in South Sudan. Uganda, however, maintains that its troops were deployed at the request of the South Sudanese Government after tensions escalated between Machar and President Salva Kiir’s Government.
The tensions between the two leaders intensified in early March when South Sudanese security forces arrested several senior members of Machar’s SPLM-IO party following clashes between the military and the White Army militia, which the government accuses Machar of supporting. The SPLM-IO, however, denies any ongoing links with the militia, which is largely composed of ethnic Nuer fighters who opposed Kiir’s predominantly Dinka forces during the civil war. Machar’s letter also accused Uganda of participating in airstrikes against civilians, urging international pressure to remove Ugandan troops from South Sudan.
The military escalation comes as the U.N. warned that rising ethnic tensions and hate speech in South Sudan could reignite the conflict, exacerbating the already fragile peace. While Uganda’s involvement is framed as a stabilising effort to prevent a wider conflict, especially with concerns about refugees and regional instability, Machar insists that the intervention is exacerbating civilian suffering and violating international agreements, including the ongoing arms embargo that has been in place since 2018. Both Ugandan and South Sudanese military officials have not yet responded to the allegations.