Source: International Business Times
Vice President of South Sudan Riek Machar (L) and President of South Sudan Salva Kiir (R) hold a fragile 2018 power-sharing agreement AFP South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar, the long-time rival to President Salva Kiir, was arrested on Wednesday -- a move described by the UN as leaving the country on the brink of widespread conflict. A convoy of 20 heavily armed vehicles entered Machar's residence in the capital Juba and arrested him, according to a statement issued by a member of his party, in a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has been building for weeks in the world's youngest country. A power-sharing deal between Kiir and Machar has been gradually unravelling, threatening a return of the five-year civil war that killed around 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.
