Makamu wa Kwanza wa Rais wa Sudan Kusini, Riek Machar, anakabiliwa na mashtaka ya uhaini na uhalifu mwingine mzito, mamlaka za sheria zilisema Alhamisi, hali ambayo imezua hofu ya kurejea kwa vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe. Machar amekuwa kizuizini tangu Machi 2025 baada ya serikali ya mpito kumtuhumu kupanga njama dhidi ya Rais Salva Kiir, huku mapigano yakiripotiwa kati ya wanajeshi wa serikali na vikundi vinavyodaiwa kumuunga mkono
Kwa mujibu wa wizara ya sheria, Machar na wenzake saba wanakabiliwa na mashtaka ya mauaji, ugaidi, njama, na uharibifu wa mali na rasilimali za kijeshi, pamoja na uhalifu dhidi ya binadamu. Mashtaka hayo yanatokana na shambulio la Machi katika jimbo la Upper Nile ambapo kundi la White Army liliwaua maafisa wa serikali, tukio ambalo linadaiwa kuendeshwa kwa ushawishi wa Machar kupitia mitandao ya kijeshi na kisiasa. Hata hivyo, msemaji wake amesema kesi hii ni “siasa chafu” na mfumo wa sheria hauna uhuru
Wachambuzi na viongozi wa kiraia wameonya kuwa mashitaka haya yanaweza kuichimbia nchi mgogoro mpya ikiwa hayatasimamiwa na mahakama huru. Edmund Yakani, kiongozi wa kiraia, amesisitiza kuwa Machar apelekwe mahakamani hadharani na siyo kwenye “mahakama ya kifedhuli.” Hatua hii inakuja huku kumbukumbu za uhasama wa muda mrefu kati ya Kiir (kutoka kabila la Dinka) na Machar (kutoka Nuer) zikichochea hofu ya kuzuka tena kwa mapigano makubwa kama yale ya 2013 yaliyosababisha vifo vya takribani watu 400,000
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South Sudan First Vice President Riek Machar faces charges of treason and other serious crimes, local justice authorities said Thursday, as fears grow that the east African country could be edging toward a return to civil war.
Machar has been under house arrest since March after the transitional government he is a part of accused him of subversive activities against President Salva Kiir
Pro-government troops have been fighting militias and other armed groups they say are loyal to Machar, who serves as his country’s No. 2 under the terms of a delicate peace deal signed in 2018
That agreement has not been fully implemented
In addition to treason, Machar and seven others face charges of murder, conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property and military assets, and crimes against humanity
The charges stem from a violent incident in March when a militia known as the White Army overran a garrison of government troops, killing its commanding officer and others. The justice ministry said in a statement Thursday that the attack in Nasir, Upper Nile state, was influenced by Machar and others via ”coordinated military and political structures."
Bringing criminal charges against Machar is likely to further destabilize South Sudan, whose government faces pressure from regional leaders to reach a political agreement that prevents a return to full-blown war.
It was not immediately clear when Machar would be presented in a courtroom. His precise whereabouts in South Sudan are unknown, and his political supporters have long called for his freedom.
The statement from the justice ministry said Machar and his co-accused “have been informed of the charges against them and their constitutional rights.”
But a spokesman for Machar, Puok Both Baluang, said the charges “constitute a political witch hunt” and that the justice system lacks independence and can be directed politically
Edmund Yakani, a prominent civic leader in South Sudan, warned that the suspects should be presented in a competent court and not what he described as “a kangaroo court of law." He said he hopes citizens will be able to attend court proceedings
Both Kiir and Machar are historical leaders of the rebel movement — the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM — that secured South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011
But they are from rival ethnic groups: Kiir is from the Dinka, the largest, and Machar is from the Nuer, the second-largest
Their military rivalry began in the 1990s, when Machar led a breakaway unit which drew accusations that he had betrayed the SPLM. Amid the split, forces loyal to Machar carried out a massacre in the town of Bor that targeted the Dinka, angering rebel commander Kiir and John Garang, the movement’s now-deceased political figurehead.
Fighting among southerners briefly undermined their struggle for independence, but it also sowed lifelong distrust between Kiir and Machar
Analysts say Machar and Kiir don’t see eye to eye even as they work together, and their feud has grown over the years as Machar waits his turn to become president and Kiir hangs on in the presidency
In 2013, citing a coup plot, Kiir fired Machar as his deputy. Later that year violence erupted in Juba, the capital, as government soldiers loyal to Kiir fought those devoted to Machar in the start of a civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people
Source: African news
Kwa mujibu wa wizara ya sheria, Machar na wenzake saba wanakabiliwa na mashtaka ya mauaji, ugaidi, njama, na uharibifu wa mali na rasilimali za kijeshi, pamoja na uhalifu dhidi ya binadamu. Mashtaka hayo yanatokana na shambulio la Machi katika jimbo la Upper Nile ambapo kundi la White Army liliwaua maafisa wa serikali, tukio ambalo linadaiwa kuendeshwa kwa ushawishi wa Machar kupitia mitandao ya kijeshi na kisiasa. Hata hivyo, msemaji wake amesema kesi hii ni “siasa chafu” na mfumo wa sheria hauna uhuru
Wachambuzi na viongozi wa kiraia wameonya kuwa mashitaka haya yanaweza kuichimbia nchi mgogoro mpya ikiwa hayatasimamiwa na mahakama huru. Edmund Yakani, kiongozi wa kiraia, amesisitiza kuwa Machar apelekwe mahakamani hadharani na siyo kwenye “mahakama ya kifedhuli.” Hatua hii inakuja huku kumbukumbu za uhasama wa muda mrefu kati ya Kiir (kutoka kabila la Dinka) na Machar (kutoka Nuer) zikichochea hofu ya kuzuka tena kwa mapigano makubwa kama yale ya 2013 yaliyosababisha vifo vya takribani watu 400,000
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South Sudan First Vice President Riek Machar faces charges of treason and other serious crimes, local justice authorities said Thursday, as fears grow that the east African country could be edging toward a return to civil war.
Machar has been under house arrest since March after the transitional government he is a part of accused him of subversive activities against President Salva Kiir
Pro-government troops have been fighting militias and other armed groups they say are loyal to Machar, who serves as his country’s No. 2 under the terms of a delicate peace deal signed in 2018
That agreement has not been fully implemented
In addition to treason, Machar and seven others face charges of murder, conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property and military assets, and crimes against humanity
The charges stem from a violent incident in March when a militia known as the White Army overran a garrison of government troops, killing its commanding officer and others. The justice ministry said in a statement Thursday that the attack in Nasir, Upper Nile state, was influenced by Machar and others via ”coordinated military and political structures."
Bringing criminal charges against Machar is likely to further destabilize South Sudan, whose government faces pressure from regional leaders to reach a political agreement that prevents a return to full-blown war.
It was not immediately clear when Machar would be presented in a courtroom. His precise whereabouts in South Sudan are unknown, and his political supporters have long called for his freedom.
The statement from the justice ministry said Machar and his co-accused “have been informed of the charges against them and their constitutional rights.”
But a spokesman for Machar, Puok Both Baluang, said the charges “constitute a political witch hunt” and that the justice system lacks independence and can be directed politically
Edmund Yakani, a prominent civic leader in South Sudan, warned that the suspects should be presented in a competent court and not what he described as “a kangaroo court of law." He said he hopes citizens will be able to attend court proceedings
Both Kiir and Machar are historical leaders of the rebel movement — the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM — that secured South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011
But they are from rival ethnic groups: Kiir is from the Dinka, the largest, and Machar is from the Nuer, the second-largest
Their military rivalry began in the 1990s, when Machar led a breakaway unit which drew accusations that he had betrayed the SPLM. Amid the split, forces loyal to Machar carried out a massacre in the town of Bor that targeted the Dinka, angering rebel commander Kiir and John Garang, the movement’s now-deceased political figurehead.
Fighting among southerners briefly undermined their struggle for independence, but it also sowed lifelong distrust between Kiir and Machar
Analysts say Machar and Kiir don’t see eye to eye even as they work together, and their feud has grown over the years as Machar waits his turn to become president and Kiir hangs on in the presidency
In 2013, citing a coup plot, Kiir fired Machar as his deputy. Later that year violence erupted in Juba, the capital, as government soldiers loyal to Kiir fought those devoted to Machar in the start of a civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people
Source: African news
