South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, left, and Vice President Riek Machar, shake hands after meeting in Juba in 2019
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I Less than six years after the signing of the 2018 peace deal that averted widespread bloodshed in South Sudan, Uganda has once again presented itself as the only hope for the floundering harmony in the world’s youngest nation.
This followed rising tensions that have threatened a fragile peace agreement between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, putting the country on the blink of war.
Impoverished South Sudan has long been plagued by political instability and insecurity, but concerns have risen sharply in the past week after clashes between forces allied to the country’s leaders in the northeast.
According to Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (UPDF), disclosed that the country’s special forces have been deployed to South Sudan’s capital Juba in a peace building move.
“We the UPDF (Ugandan military), only recognise one President of South Sudan, H.E. Salva Kiir … any move against him is a declaration of war against Uganda,” he said.
Said Muhoozi: “He is our ‘Afande’ even in UPDF because he is the younger brother of Mzee! All those who commit that crime will learn what it means!”
Gen. Muhoozi, who is also the son of President Yoweri Museveni added that: “We shall protect the entire territory of South Sudan like it was our own.”
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces
Why did Uganda intervene?
Felix Kulayigye, the spokesperson for the Ugandan military, said the deployment was at the request of the South Sudan government.
“Our troops were there with permission from the South Sudan government. The situation will determine how long we’ll stay there,” he said.
The other reason is that tensions had risen in recent days in South Sudan since President Salva Kiir’s government detained two ministers and several senior military officials allied with First Vice President Riek Machar.
Political pundits warned that the arrests in Juba and deadly clashes around the northern town of Nasir could jeopardise a 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar in which nearly 400,000 people were killed.
Ugandan troops
The other reason that called for Uganda’s intervention was that although eight officials who were arrested last week alongside the petroleum minister had been released, 20 others, including the minister and the deputy head of military, were still in custody.
Uganda also fears a full-blown military conflict in its northern neighbour could send waves of refugees across the border and potentially create instability.
UN sucked in
Tensions flared last Friday after a UN helicopter was attacked during a failed rescue mission.
The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said its team was attempting to extract members of the South Sudanese army from the area when their helicopter came under fire.
A South Sudanese army general and other officers were killed, UNMISS said in a statement, saying the incident may constitute a war crime.
Not Uganda’s first
This is not the first time the Uganda Government has chosen to intervene in the oil producing country.
After the civil war erupted in South Sudan in 2013, Uganda deployed its troops in Juba to bolster Kiir’s forces against Machar. They were eventually withdrawn in 2015.
Ugandan troops were again deployed in Juba in 2016 after fighting reignited between the two sides for weeks on end. When peace returned, the UPDF troops were also withdrawn.
