US Orders Nonemergency Government Staff to Leave South Sudan
South Sudan�s President Salva Kiir, right, and Vice President Riek Machar, left, attend a Holy Mass led by Pope Francis at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba, South Sudan Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
11:31 AM EDT, March 9, 2025
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) � The U.S. State Department on Sunday ordered nonemergency government personnel to leave South Sudan�s capital as tension escalates because of fighting in the north.
The travel advisory issued on Sunday stated that fighting was ongoing and that �weapons are readily available to the population.�
An armed group clashed with the country�s army on Tuesday, leading to the arrests of two government ministers and a deputy army chief allied to former rebel turned Vice President Riek Machar.
Machar�s home was surrounded by the army as his supporters said that the arrests were threatening the country�s peace agreement.
South Sudan descended into a civil war from 2013 to 2018, during which more than 400,000 people were killed. President Salva Kiir and Machar, his rival, signed a peace agreement in 2018 that is still in the process of implementation.
On Friday, an attack on a U.N helicopter that was on an evacuation mission in the north complicated the security situation and a U.N rights body said that it was �considered a war crime.�
The U.N Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan on Saturday said that the violence in the north and tension in Juba, the capital, was �threatening to derail� South Sudan�s peace agreement.
�We are witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress. Rather than fueling division and conflict, leaders must urgently refocus on the peace process, uphold the human rights of South Sudanese citizens, and ensure a smooth transition to democracy,� said the chairperson, Yasmin Sooka.
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