A South Sudan opposition lawmaker has raised alarm over what he describes as a “genocide” being orchestrated by President Salva Kiir’s government against the Nuer ethnic group, led by rival Riek Machar. The accusation comes amid escalating tensions between Kiir’s government forces and Machar’s supporters, which have stoked fears of a return to the civil war that had ravaged the country for years.
Reath Muoch Tang, a deputy in Machar’s party and a member of the Nuer community, condemned the government’s recent actions in Nasir County, Upper Nile State. He criticized the government’s classification of Nuer-dominated areas as “hostile,” which, according to the government, were aligned with Machar’s faction. Tang sees this as a deliberate attempt to justify collective punishment and violence against the Nuer people. He called the move “reckless and malicious,” describing it as a precursor to genocide.
The latest wave of violence erupted after clashes between the government forces and the White Army, an ethnic Nuer militia. These forces stormed a military camp in Nasir in early March, killing around 400 members of the armed forces. The attack, which also resulted in the death of a top-ranking general, has intensified fears of a breakdown in the fragile peace agreement between Kiir and Machar, which ended the civil war in 2018.
The violence since March has claimed at least 200 lives, displaced around 125,000 people, and further strained the already delicate peace. The United Nations has expressed concern about the humanitarian crisis, which continues to escalate as the conflict spreads across South Sudan. Despite the country’s vast oil reserves, South Sudan remains one of the world’s most impoverished nations, plagued by instability since its independence in 2011.
With tensions at a boiling point, the accusations of genocide could further destabilize the country, leaving its future uncertain as ethnic divisions and political rivalries persist.
