Authorities in South Sudan’s Lakes State have closed the main office of the opposition SPLM-IO party in Rumbek following the arrest of several officials, including the deputy governor, a state official said on Tuesday.
The National Security Service (NSS) arrested Lakes State Deputy Governor Isaiah Akol Mathiang, who also chairs the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) in the state, along with other officials on Monday.
Among those arrested were State Minister of Animal Resources Gai Magok, Lakes State Assembly MP Ater Akolde, and SPLM-IO youth league chairperson Mandela Machiek.
The arrests came a day after Akol condemned airstrikes by South Sudanese and Ugandan forces in Upper Nile State.
Lakes State Governor Rin Tueny Mabor, a leading member of the SPLM party led by President Salva Kiir, ordered the closure of the SPLM-IO office in Rumbek.
Acting Information Minister William Koji Kirjok told Radio Tamazuj that the SPLM-IO office in Lakes State would remain shut pending investigations into the party’s chairman.
“If the chairman of the SPLM-IO party is in jail, then there is no need for the party to operate in Lakes State,” Kirjok said.
He described the case as “bigger than 72 hours” due to allegations of incitement and said those detained would face court proceedings after investigations.
Civil society activist Daniel Laat Kon condemned the arrests, calling for the officials’ immediate release.
The SPLM-IO denounced the move in Rumbek as a violation of the 2018 peace deal (R-ARCISS) and demanded its office be reopened.
“The SPLM-IO condemns these continued violations… and the unlawful arrest of its members,” Spokesperson Pal Mai Deng said in a statement on Tuesday.
The closure of the SPLM-IO secretariat in Rumbek comes amid escalating tensions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar.