After a virtual meeting chaired by Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh on Wednesday, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) asked for the release of the former rebel leader’s allies and South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar, considering that such events endanger the country’s stability.

IGAD also spoke out for presenting credible evidence to justify legal proceedings, following due process, and condemning violence.

The regional bloc also called for an investigation into the clashes in Nasir County in the last few weeks, and the attack on a United Nations helicopter.

Recently changes in opposition figures in the Upper Nile state governance, stipulated in the 2018 Peace Accords and decided by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, created an outbreak of violence in Nasir city, from which the current wave of arrests was unleashed.

After several years of civil war in South Sudan, the warring political leaders signed a peace agreement in 2018, and agreed in August 2022 to extend the transitional period, envisioning a February 2025 conclusion, with elections scheduled for December this year after several delays.

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