South Sudan .. Fears of renewed civil war due to the trial of Rick Machar

Today, Monday, the first vice -president of South Sudan, Rick Machar, began, amid strict security measures in the capital, Juba, in a move that may threaten the fragile peace agreement and restore the specter of civil war to the country.

Machar appeared behind bars, wearing a dark suit and a blue tie, in his first public appearance since he was placed under house arrest last March. The trial took place in an occasions hall that is usually used for weddings and celebrations, in the presence of a limited media that was limited to the Radio and Government Television Authority. His lawyer Jerry Raymondo Leg paid the court’s jurisdiction, considering that the trial is “unconstitutional, illegal and illegal, because Machar still has the immunity of his position as a first deputy president. He demanded the immediate release of him and seven of his allies, among them the Minister of Oil, stressing that their detention was “unconstitutional.” Dozens of civilians have been killed and more than 80,000 people were displaced. The relationship between Machar and President Salva Kiir has been tense for more than three decades, as a destroyed civil war erupted between 2013 and 2018 between supporters of the two parties, the forces of the Nuer tribe led by Machar, and the fighters of the Dinka tribe loyal to Kiir, and ended with a fragile peace agreement stipulated that the authority shared between them. My president this month, then referring him to the trial, re -fears of the collapse of the agreement and renewed the fighting, especially since South Sudan suffers from political and economic fragility and suffocating humanitarian crises. Machar and more than 20 of his allies face accusations that include “killing, betrayal, and crimes against humanity”, based on allegations of their involvement in attacks carried out by the “White Army” militia against government forces Civilians. Observers believe that the trial is not just a legal issue, but rather a test for the future of stability in southern Sudan, where any political or military escalation may lead to the return of the country to the civil war.