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South Sudanese Vice Pres. Machar Is Arrested in Sharp Escalation of Tensions

HeadlineMar 27, 2025

In South Sudan, opposition officials say the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar marks the end of a fragile 2018 peace deal between Machar and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, further tipping the country toward a new civil war. Machar is reportedly being held in his home after a convoy of heavily armed vehicles entered his Juba residence late Wednesday. An estimated 400,000 people were killed during fighting in South Sudan between 2013 and 2018. Tensions between the two rivals had been mounting, as have deadly clashes by armed groups, especially in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state.

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