By Our Reporter
Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) has deployed in South Sudan to help prop up the government of President SalvaKiirMayardit, the Chief of Défense Forces-CDF Muhoozi Kainerugaba has revealed.
“UPDF Commandos arriving in Juba to support South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) in the current crisis. Operation ‘MlinziwaKimya’ has began. God bless UPDF,” Muhoozi posted on a video on his favorite social media platform, X.
The video showed soldiers disembarking from a civilian aircraft carrying guns. It is not yet known when this video was taken. But the deployment of UPDF to South Sudan again speaks of the deteriorating political and security crisis in Africa’s youngest country.
UPDF was deployed in South Sudan in 2013 without parliamentary authorization to help save the government of Kiir that had nearly been overthrown by forces loyal to his then former vice President, RiekMachar.
It is not known under what arrangement, that UPDF has been deployed in South Sudan this time. There has been no known authorization by parliament.
For weeks now, tension has been building between forces loyal to President Kiir and those of his First Vice President RiekMachar, who heads the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition.
Last week, militias that are said to be loyal to Machar overrun the town of Nasir in the north of the country bordering Sudan, killing many people, including a South Sudan People’s Defence Forces commander in the region.
Machar and Kiir
There has also been renewed fighting in the towns of Malakal and Bentiu, both of which are occupied by the ethnic Nuer, the tribe from which Machar comes. Fighting has also been reported in the Bar el Ghazal region, which is home to Kiir’s Dinka tribe.
There have also been several arrests of Machar supporters in the Capital Juba without any reasons being given.
Machar himself is said to be in an unannounced house arrest. If this simmering conflict is to escalate beyond its current levels, this will be the third time that South Sudan has witnessed large-scale fighting since its independence in 2011.
The first fallout between Machar and Kiir happened in 2013 and resulted in a two-year conflict that was resolved by the 2015 peace agreement, which led to Machar being appointed as First Vice President. However, this peace deal unraveled, resulting in renewed fighting in 2016 that, yet again, killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.
This particular fight was resolved through the revitalized peace agreement of 2018 that has tried to hold amidst tensions.
South Sudan was scheduled to hold elections this year, which would have been the first ever since it got its independence in 2011. However, the transitional government extended them for another two years, arguing that they had not yet worked on the modalities that would have enabled them to be free and fair.
These included ending all fighting and uniting all the armed forces.
The international community, including IGAD, the United Nations, the African Union, and countries with influence, such as the United States of America and South Sudan, have called for the peaceful resolution of the disagreement between the military and political players.
They argue that if South Sudan goes up in flames again, it will make the region a very dangerous one, especially coming at the heels of a civil war in neighbouring Sudan.
