The arrest of South Sudan’s First Vice-President, Riek Machar, has effectively collapsed the 2018 peace deal that ended the country’s five-year civil war, according to his party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM/IO).

According to the SPLM/IO, an armed convoy led by top security officials, including the country’s defence minister, stormed Machar’s residence in the capital, Juba, late on Wednesday. His bodyguards were disarmed before he was taken into custody. Alongside him, his wife, Angelina Teny, who serves as South Sudan’s interior minister, was also detained.

The arrest has sparked international concern, with the United States calling for Machar’s immediate release. The United Nations, the African Union, and neighbouring countries have also voiced their alarm over the situation.

Machar has been a central figure in South Sudan’s fragile peace process, and his detention raises fears of renewed instability in a nation that has struggled with conflict for years. His party has stated that the arrest marks the end of the peace agreement, which had been instrumental in bringing relative calm after the brutal civil war that lasted from 2013 to 2018.

The political situation in South Sudan remains tense, with the possibility of further unrest as pressure mounts for Machar’s release and a resolution to the crisis.