Puok Both Baluang, spokesman for opposition leader Riek Machar, has defended the recent call to arms, framing it as a measure to protect the peace agreement that ended South Sudan’s five-year civil war.
He dismissed Machar’s indictment as a “political witch hunt” designed to “dismantle the peace agreement,” stressing that ordinary South Sudanese remain the true beneficiaries of the fragile accord.
The party issued a statement on Monday, September 15, asking its supporters to report for a national service and use all available means to assert their sovereignty.
The indictment has heightened political tensions and stoked fears of renewed violence. Fighting has intensified in recent months between pro-government troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and forces aligned with Machar, alongside other armed groups. With Kiir representing the Dinka ethnic majority and Machar the Nuer minority, observers warn that the crisis risks reigniting ethnically charged conflict reminiscent of the country’s brutal civil war.