UN chief: World leaders must speak with one voice to prevent a new civil war in South Sudan

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks with the media during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations chief urged regional and international leaders Friday to prevent South Sudan from falling “over the abyss” into another civil war and speak with one voice to support a return to peace.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world’s newest and one of its poorest countries is facing “a security emergency” with intensifying clashes and a “political upheaval” culminating with this week’s arrest by the government of First Vice President Riek Machar.

“Meanwhile, ethnic and political targeting by security forces — coupled with the spread of misinformation on social media — is lighting the fuse for even worse,” he warned. “Let’s not mince words: What we are seeing is darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 civil wars, which killed 400,000 people.”

The civil wars ended in a 2018 peace agreement that brought President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and Machar, an ethnic Nuer, together in a unity government, which is supposed to be heading toward delayed national elections in December 2026.

But tensions have been increasing between Kiir’s and Machar’s parties, and they escalated in March when the White Army, an armed group loyal to Machar, overran an army base in Upper Nile state and attacked a U.N. helicopter. The government responded with deadly airstrikes.

Guterres urged South Sudan’s leaders to “end the politics of confrontation,” restore the national unity government, and release detained military and civilian officials now.

“I also urge the regional and international community, as guarantors of the (2018) peace agreement, to speak with one voice in support of the peace process and against any attempts to undermine it,” he said.

Guterres said he spoke to the chair of the African Union Commission on Friday morning and announced the UN’s support for the deployment of the AU’s five-member Panel of the Wise and the special envoy of Kenya’s President William Ruto to South Sudan’s capital, Juba, to pursue a diplomatic solution.

The UN chief said the Panel of the Wise and Kenyan envoy Raila Odinga will visit both Kiir and Machar.

Odinga, a former prime minister of Kenya, was in Juba on Friday. But it was not immediately clear if he was able to meet with Machar.

South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makuei said in a statement Friday that Machar was under house arrest pending an investigation into subversive activities.

Machar was arrested to maintain stability and prevent the country from sliding back into conflict, he said, adding that the 2018 peace agreement with Machar remains in place.

“The agreement has not collapsed,” Makuei said.

But Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, deputy chairperson of the country’s main opposition party led by Machar, said Thursday the 2018 agreement “has been abrogated.” He said Machar’s arrest shows a lack of political goodwill to achieve peace and stability.

Guterres stressed that the United Nations wants to see the visits by Odinga and the AU’s Panel of the Wise produce “the effect we want.”

“And the effect we want is the re-establishment of the peace agreement and the creation of conditions for peace in South Sudan,” he said.

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Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press

Associated Press reporter Deng Machol in Juba, South Sudan, contributed to this report.