The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) said on Tuesday that security forces had arrested several of its senior officials in Warrap state, including the speaker of the state parliament.
The party, led by detained First Vice President Riek Machar, accused the government of arbitrary arrests and warned that such actions could undermine South Sudan’s fragile 2018 peace agreement.
Machar was detained in Juba by President Salva Kiir on March 26, along with several allies, including the petroleum minister and the deputy chief of defense forces.
The SPLM-IO has called his detention a violation of the peace deal that ended a five-year civil war.
In a statement seen by Radio Tamazuj, SPLM-IO spokesperson Pal Mai Deng said security forces had arrested Kuec Deng Mayar, speaker of the Warrap State Legislative Assembly and the party’s state chairperson, alongside state legal advisor John Kok Deng, education committee chair Luka Thiony Majok, and other members in the state capital, Kuajok.
Deng condemned the arrests and warned that military offensives against civilians and opposition forces risked derailing the peace process. The group demanded the immediate release of all detainees and the withdrawal of Ugandan forces from South Sudan.
Tensions have risen since Machar’s arrest, with clashes reported between government and opposition forces in Upper Nile state.
The 2018 peace deal established a power-sharing government but has faced repeated delays in implementation.