At least 17 key political figures have been arrested in connection with Sunday’s military revolt.
The authorities in South Sudan on December 17, 2013, announced the arrest of 17 key political figures in connection with Sunday’s bloody coup attempt, Radio France Internationale, RFI reported yesterday. Among those picked up were former Finance Minister, Kosti Manibe, ex-Justice Minister, John Luk Jok and former Interior Minister, Gier Chuang Aluong.
President Salva Kiir accused former Vice President, Riek Machar, of masterminding the army revolt that has so far claimed between 400 and 500 lives, according to RFI. However, in an interview with Sudan Tribune newspaper yesterday, December 18, 2013, Riek Machar, who claimed to be in hiding in the country, denied any involvement in the alleged coup attempt in the capital, Juba. He described the allegation as “another undemocratic attempt by President Salva Kiir to get rid of his political critics in the party and government.”
Machar insisted that the violence that erupted on Sunday, December 15, 2013, was not a coup, but a misunderstanding among the Presidential Guards. President Kiir on Monday, December 16, 2013, accused Machar of involvement in Sunday’s attack on a military base in Juba. He described his former deputy as a “prophet of doom who continues to persistently pursue his actions of the past.” Machar in 1991 defected from the then rebel movement during its long civil war with Sudan.
Meanwhile, key military installations in Jonglei State’s Bor County came under heavy attack on December 17, 2013, forcing out hundreds of soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir’s government to flee, the Sudan Tribune reported. The attack in the Pan-pandiar SPLA Army headquarters and Malual-chaat Military Camps near Bor, was reportedly launched by mutinying forces led by Gen. Peter Gadet Yaak.
The UN yesterday said up to 20,000 people have taken refuge in its mission in Juba, the BBC reported. It warned that the crisis could descend into a civil war between the two main ethnic groups, the Dinka and Nuer. The government has however denied that there was an ethnic aspect to the conflict. Machar and the rest of the cabinet were fired last July by the Head of State in a move that has since sparked concerns as to the stability of the two-year-old nation.
