Uganda president holds talks with South Sudanese leaders to try to avoid civil war

NAIROBI, Kenya — Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni was expected to meet South Sudanese officials on the second day of his trip to the capital, Juba, as the U.N has expressed concern of a renewed civil war after the main opposition leader was put under house arrest.

Museveni, who is among the guarantors of a 2018 peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war, held closed-door discussions with President Salva Kiir on Thursday. South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdallah Goc said that the country’s leadership had assured Museveni of its commitment to implement the peace agreement.

South Sudan’s political landscape remains fragile and recent violence between government troops and armed groups allied to the opposition have escalated tension.

Uganda last month deployed troops to South Sudan to support the government, but it was criticized by South Sudan’s main opposition party SPLM-IO, whose leader Riek Machar is under house arrest on charges of incitement.

In early March, the armed group loyal to Machar attacked a U.N helicopter that was on a mission to evacuate government troops from the restive northern Upper Nile State.

Western countries including Germany and Norway have temporarily closed their embassies in Juba while the U.S and the U.K. have reduced embassy staff.