SOUTH SUDAN VICE-PRESIDENT MACHAR CHARGED WITH MURDER, TREASON, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
South Sudan’s Vice-President, Riek Machar, has been formally charged with murder, treason, and crimes against humanity over a deadly attack on a military base that left more than 250 soldiers dead, the country’s Justice Minister, Joseph Geng Akech, announced on Thursday.
The charges stem from an assault in early March, when the White Army a militia drawn from Machar’s Nuer ethnic group overran a military base in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, between March 3 and 7. The attack claimed the lives of several senior officers, including a general, and led to the death of a United Nations helicopter pilot after peacekeepers came under fire while attempting a rescue mission.
Akech said Machar and 20 others face multiple counts including conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property, and persecution of civilians. He described the events as “gross violations of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, including desecration of corpses and attacks on humanitarian workers.”
“This case sends a clear message: those who commit atrocities against the people of South Sudan, our armed forces, and humanitarian personnel will be held accountable, no matter their position or political influence,” the minister stated in Juba.
The charges mark a new low in the already fragile power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and Machar, which has been deteriorating for months. Machar was placed under house arrest shortly after the attack, while several of his allies have been detained.
South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, remains deeply unstable. A brutal five-year civil war between Kiir and Machar claimed some 400,000 lives before a 2018 peace deal ushered in a shaky coalition government. However, elections scheduled for December 2024 have been postponed until 2026, heightening fears of renewed conflict.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has warned of “an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress” in the country’s peace process.
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