Ruto appoints Raila as Kenya's special envoy to South Sudan amid rising tension
It is understood that Raila is set to travel to South Sudan on Friday to help prevent further conflict in the country.
President William Ruto has appointed former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as Kenya's special envoy to South Sudan amid rising tensions following the arrest of First Vice President and opposition leader Riek Machar, along with his wife, Interior Minister Angelina Teny.
Odinga's spokesperson Dennis Onyango confirmed that the former prime minister would travel to Juba on Friday.
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Ruto, who chairs the East African Community (EAC) bloc, said he had spoken with Kiir about Machar's detention and was sending a special envoy to help de-escalate the situation and report back.
"President Ruto, who is also the chair of the East African Community, has requested Raila to be his special envoy to South Sudan. The Special Envoy is presently engaged with the escalating situation in our sisterly country, including traveling to Juba to convey the President’s message to President Kiir and Machar as well as to critical stakeholders in Juba," Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs Korir Sing'Oei said.
Ruto said he had also consulted Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who sent troops this month to South Sudan at the government's request to help secure the capital, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, which has hosted South Sudan peace talks in the past.
His visit comes as Kenya assumes a more prominent role in mediating regional disputes.
"Had a phone call with President Salva Kiir on the situation leading to the arrest and detention of First Vice President Riek Machar in South Sudan. After consultations with President Museveni and PM Abiy, I'm sending a special envoy to South Sudan to engage, try to de-escalate, and brief us back," Ruto said on Thursday.
The crisis in South Sudan has deepened in recent months, raising fears of renewed violence.
On Tuesday, President Ruto had a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss regional security, including the deteriorating situation in South Sudan.
"In South Sudan, I updated the Secretary of State on the current situation and the initiatives we are engaged in to encourage the government and opposition to re-engage, de-escalate violence and rededicate themselves to the search for peace," Ruto stated.
Machar has been under house arrest in the capital Juba since Wednesday night, his party says, effectively voiding a 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war and brought the two men into a fragile power-sharing government.
Their administration has been slow to adopt key provisions of the peace pact, such as national elections and the unification of their two forces into one army.
Machar's detention took "the country one step closer to the edge of collapse into civil war," a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.
Machar's party denies government accusations that it backs the White Army, an ethnic militia largely comprised of Nuer youths, which clashed with the army in the northeastern town of Nasir this month, triggering the latest political crisis.
In response to the fighting, Kiir's forces rounded up several of Machar's most senior allies, including the petroleum minister and the deputy head of the army.
Forces loyal to the two men have clashed in recent days, outside Juba, among other places.
Rival factions loyal to Kiir and Machar fought a civil war from 2013 to 2018 that killed hundreds of thousands.
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