Reiterating IGAD’s sentiments, SPLM-IO has stated that with Dr. Machar’s arrest, the R-ARCSS “has been abrogated.”
The party's deputy chairperson, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, described Dr. Machar’s arrest “by President Kiir” as “an act of deceit, breaking promises, dishonouring agreements, lack of political will to bring peace and stability in the country.”
Senior security personnel from the South Sudan’s security forces, allegedly “acting under the directives of President Kiir Mayardit” breached the residence of Dr. Machar and placed him, alongside his wife Angelina Teny, the Minister of Interior of the Republic of South Sudan under house arrest in Juba.
Additionally, all the protocol and close protection of the First Vice President were arrested and moved to separate locations.
In the March 27 statement, Pierino appealed to the regional and international community, including the UN and IGAD, to protect the R-ARCSS and ensure the safety and immediate release of Dr. Machar and all those around him who have been detained.
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Meanwhile, religious leaders in South Sudan have pledged to continue engaging all parties to the South Sudanese conflict to prioritize peace as their number one agenda, to achieve a sustainable peace for long-term stability of the country.
In the March 26 meeting with President Kiir, South Sudan’s faith leaders appealed to the people carrying arms to denounce conflict, urging them to embrace dialogue, in a bid to prevent the nation from descending into further conflict.
Away from the meeting between President Kiir and his country’s faith leaders in South Sudan, the people of God in the Catholic Diocese of Bentiu and their counterparts in Rumbek Catholic Diocese have embarked on fervent prayers for stability in the country following an appeal by Bishop Christian Carlassare, who directed the people of God under his pastoral care to participate in daily prayers for peace.
“As we witness rising tensions in South Sudan, I invite our parishes to pray every day for peace,” Bishop Carlassare said in a March 26 note that ACI Africa obtained.
The Local Ordinary of Bentiu, who also serves as the Apostolic Administrator of Rumbek directed that “the prayer for peace in South Sudan” be said “at the end of the Mass” and that there be, in Parishes, “a weekly initiative for peace - either Eucharistic adoration or the Way of the Cross.”
As renewed violence brews in South Sudan, Pope Francis’ representative in the embattled country has expressed the Holy Father’s grievance over the instability of the country.
The Apostolic Nuncio in South Sudan has relayed the closeness of Pope Francis with the people of God in the East-Central African nation, noting that the protracted violence in the country continues to cause the ailing Holy Father a lot of pain.
In his homily on March 9 at St. Michael’s Chapel of South Sudan’s Catholic Archdiocese of Juba, Archbishop Séamus Patrick Horgan challenged the people of God in the world’s youngest nation to become a source of consolation for Pope Francis, who was then being treated for bronchitis, by “embracing a definitive and enduring peace”.
“As the Pope’s representative to South Sudan, I wish to assure you that the Holy Father, even as he battles ill-health, has been kept informed of the situation here; and that it grieves him,” Archbishop Horgan said.
Pope Francis has always expressed his closeness with the people of God in South Sudan, appealing to them to say no to bloodshed.
On the first day of his peace pilgrimage to the country in February 2023, the Holy Father begged the leaders of South Sudan to work together to put an end to bloody conflict and violence in their country.
“In the name of God, of the God to whom we prayed together in Rome, of the God who is gentle and humble in heart, the God in whom so many people of this beloved country believe, now is the time to say ‘No more of this,’ we say no more, without ‘ifs’ or ‘buts,’” Pope Francis said, addressing South Sudan’s president and vice presidents in the garden of the presidential residence in Juba.
“No more bloodshed, no more conflicts, no more violence and mutual recriminations about who is responsible for it, no more leaving your people a thirst for peace,” he said, and added, “No more destruction: It is time to build! Leave the time of war behind and let a time of peace dawn!”
Earlier, in an 11 April 2019 dramatic gesture, Pope Francis knelt and kissed President Kiir’s feet, and those of Dr. Machar, while begging the leaders to make peace.
The two rival leaders had travelled to the Vatican for a retreat, which Pope Francis hosted specifically for the leaders who have been at war with each other for years.
In addition to President Kiir and Dr. Machar, Pope Francis kissed the feet of at least two other South Sudanese leaders during the April 2019 meeting.
The Prayer for Peace in South Sudan
God of mercy and love,
You created our people in their tribes, languages and cultures.
It is your will that people may live in love,
unity and peace because we are all brothers and sisters.
We ask your forgiveness for all the times
that we forgot our common humanity
and that we should live reconciled with one another.
Remove what divides us
and those obstacles that prevent us to live as your children.
We pray for our leaders,
give them your wisdom to be at the service of the common good
and work for the wellbeing of all citizens.
Merciful Father, make us instruments of reconciliation
and give peace to South Sudan.
Amen
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
