Attempted coup in South Sudan

There has been a coup attempt in South Sudan. Government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters that police had arrested 5 political leaders with suspected links to the coup attempt and that many more were yet to be traced. Chief among the wanted is former Vice President Riek Machar, he said, who is now believed to be in hiding after he was identified by President Salva Kiir as the political leader favored by a faction of soldiers who tried to seize power unconstitutionally earlier this week.

The hunt for Machar, an influential politician who is one of the heroes of a brutal war of independence waged against Sudan, threatens to send the world’s youngest country into further political upheaval following months of a power struggle between Kiir and his former deputy.

The African Union continued to urge South Sudan’s leaders to exercise restraint amid fears the military’s actions in the aftermath of the attempted coup could spark wider violence.

Kiir fired Machar as his deputy in July after Machar was implicated in activities deemed corrupt, sparking fears of political upheaval.

Machar, the deputy leader of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, has said he will contest the presidency in 2015.

Kiir addressed the nation Monday and vowed the plotters would face justice.

The government in South Sudan has given little details about how the coup was planned, saying an investigation is under way. But Benjamin said Monday that a group of renegade soldiers attempted to steal weapons from an army barracks in Juba but were then repulsed.

The oil-rich nation has been plagued by tensions since it seceded from Sudan in 2011.

Source: Newswires