South Sudan’s Vice-President Riek Machar has been charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity over an attack by an ethnic militia on a military base that killed more than 250 soldiers, the justice minister said Thursday.
A fragile power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and his first vice-president, Machar, has been unravelling for months in the world’s youngest country.
In early March, a militia from Machar’s ethnic Nuer community, known as the White Army, attacked a military base in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, in the northeast of the country.
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The government said Machar was responsible and has now charged him and 20 others with murder, conspiracy, terrorism, treason, destruction of public property and crimes against humanity.
“These crimes were marked by gross violations of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, including the desecration of corpses, persecution of civilians, and attacks on humanitarian workers,” Justice Minister Joseph Geng Akech said, according to a read-out provided to reporters in Juba.
Kiir soon after issued a presidential decree stripping Machar of his government position, along with another co-accused, petroleum minister Puot Kang Choi, according to a statement on state television.
The military base in Nasir was overrun by the White Army between March 3 and 7.
Several senior officers, including a general, died, and a United Nations helicopter came under fire while attempting to rescue soldiers at the base, leading to the death of a pilot.
“This case sends a clear message: those who commit atrocities against the people of South Sudan, against our armed forces, and against humanitarian personnel will be held accountable, no matter their position or political influence,” the minister said in the statement.
Kiir had already been moving for months to consolidate power and sideline Machar, who was placed under house arrest a few weeks after the attack, while many of his allies have also been detained.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but was quickly plunged into a devastating five-year civil war between Kiir and Machar that left some 400,000 dead. The war ended with a power-sharing agreement in 2018, but attempts by the international community to ensure a democratic transition have failed. Elections that were due to take place in December 2024 were once again postponed for two years.