By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Uganda’s military chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, says his country has deployed special forces to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, aiming to assist President Salva Kiir to “secure it”.
South Sudan has witnessed escalating tension in recent weeks between President Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar, stoking fears that the country’s fragile peace could collapse and give rise to fresh fighting.
Gen Kainerugaba, son of Uganda’s long-term leader, President Yoweri Museveni, did not give reasons for the deployment to the neighbouring country but said that any move against Kiir “is a declaration of war against Uganda”.
“We shall protect the entire territory of South Sudan like it was our own,” he added on the social media platform X.
Following rising tension, the US has ordered its non-emergency staff to leave the country.
The latest tension was caused by the arrest of top government officials who are known loyalists of Vice President Machar by state security forces, a development an opposition spokesman called a “grave violation” of the peace deal.
They were arrested after clashes in the Upper Nile state between government forces and a militia known as the White Army, which fought alongside the Vice President in the five-year civil war that ended with a peace deal in 2018 after the death of 400,000 people.
The war was caused by a power struggle between Machar and Kiir, with Kiir accusing his deputy of plotting a coup.
Some elements of the 2018 peace deal have not been implemented, including a new constitution, an election, and the reunification of armed groups into a single army.
Kiir postponed a delayed election last year, citing the need for more time to draft a new constitution and make provisions for election logistics.
