South Sudan rebuffs IGAD mission as tensions between Kiir and Machar deepen

Kenya's Foreign Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has revealed that South Sudan abruptly declined a proposal to host a delegation of foreign ministers from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Juba, a mission intended to de-escalate political tensions and gain access to the country's First Vice President Riek Machar who is under house arrest.

"We were destined as foreign affairs ministers earlier to go to South Sudan and have a conversation as IGAD ministers, but the government of South Sudan at the eleventh hour sent a message that it wasn't ready to receive the ministers — and that meeting was deferred," Mudavadi told diplomats at the quarterly diplomatic briefing in Nairobi on Tuesday.

The revelation comes amid rising political heat in Juba, following a fresh falling-out between President Salva Kiir and his long-time political rival, Machar — a rift that risks unravelling the fragile 2018 peace deal that ended years of brutal civil war.

South Sudan is a member of IGAD, a regional bloc comprising eight countries from the Horn of Africa, the Nile Valley and the Great Lakes Region.

IGAD has historically played a central role in mediating the South Sudanese conflict, notably brokering the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) and the 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement.

Earlier, President William Ruto of Kenya had dispatched opposition leader Raila Odinga as his special envoy to Juba in a separate diplomatic attempt to thaw relations between Kiir and Machar.

While Odinga met President Kiir, he later told reporters upon returning to Nairobi that he had been denied access to Machar and had instead been redirected to Uganda for consultations with President Yoweri Museveni.

"I asked to be allowed to talk to Dr Machar, but they were not able to let me see him. They recommended that I meet with President Yoweri Museveni, which I did. From Juba, I then proceeded to Entebbe," Odinga said at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

However, South Sudan's presidency quickly disowned the narrative.

In a rare public rebuke, David Amuor Majur, President Kiir’s press secretary, dismissed Odinga's remarks as a breach of diplomatic protocol.

"The suggestion that His Excellency, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, requested Right Honourable Raila Odinga to meet with the president of Uganda is misrepresenting diplomatic norms and principles," said Majur.

At the heart of the crisis lies the effective house arrest of Machar, coupled with the detention of key allies and military commanders — a move that has heightened fears of renewed conflict and shattered hopes of political reconciliation.

The South Sudanese government has yet to release an official reason for declining the ministerial visit.

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