The arrest of South Sudan Gabriel Doup Lam viola the peace agreement, says the opposition

The arrest of an army general of the main opposition of South Sudan is a “serious violation” of the peace agreement that ended a five -year civil war, said a spokesman for the opposition to the BBC.

General Gabriel Duop Lam was arrested earlier this week, along with other senior officials of the Popular Liberation Movement of Sudan in opposition (SPLM-IO).

The detainees are all allies of Vice President Riek Machar, whose crack with President Salva Kiir caused a devastating war in 2013.

On Thursday morning, Machar spokesman said the SPLM-I did not know how their officials were or where they were detained.

“We are doing everything possible to avoid any climbing in the situation, however, we need our partners to demonstrate the political will to ensure that this country will not return to war,” said Puok, said Baluang, the Newsday program of the BBC said.

President Kiir has insisted that Sudan del Sur will not return to war, government spokesman Michael Makuei said Wednesday, journalists in the Juba capital on Wednesday.

Makuei added that the opposition figures were arrested because they were “in conflict with the law.”

South Sudan is the newest nation in the world, after separating from Sudan in 2011. But only two years later, a civil war broke out when Kiir dismissed his entire cabinet and accused Machar of instigating a failed coup d’etat.

After five years, with 400,000 lost lives and 2.5 million forced people from their homes, a peace agreement was agreed in 2018.

But it has been tense since then.

Gen Lam is in charge of the military wing of the opposition party, which has not yet been integrated into the Army. He was arrested on Tuesday.

Another ally of Machar, the Minister of Petroleum, Puot Kang Chol, was taken by security forces in the middle of the night.

Machar’s house in the capital, Juba, was surrounded by South Sudan Army troops during the night before they then retired.

Understand all other high -all -allied military officers with machar under house arrest, BBC.

The arrests follow the reports that the militia of the White Army had taken a strategic city in the state of Alto Nilo near the Ethiopian border, after clashes with government troops.

The White Army fought with Machar during the civil war.

Some in the army, loyal to Kiir, have accused Machar’s allies of supporting the rebels.

Machar spokesman told the BBC that the current fighting between the white army and security forces “would have been avoided” if the leadership of the national army had fulfilled the peace agreement.

The UN and the African Union have warned that violence in this area could spread.

Ter Manyang, head of the Peace and Defense Center based in Juba, told Reuters that fighting in this area could threaten the peace agreement.

“The country is likely to slide to war unless the situation is administered by the country’s superior leadership,” he said.

The country has never celebrated an election; Now they will be carried out in 2026 after years late.