South Sudan faces turmoil as former officials arrested in wave of detentions

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A former South Sudan finance minister is the latest former government official arrested in a wave of detentions that analysts say shows cracks in the government of President Salva Kiir, who also faces an armed rebellion.

The latest arrest came Friday when Bak Barnaba Chol was taken into custody while attempting to cross the border into Uganda. His arrest followed that of another former minister of finance and planning, Marial Dongrin Ater, who was fired in August.

In the past week, a former central bank governor, a former undersecretary for the ministry of petroleum, and a general in the domestic intelligence agency previously posted to the same ministry have been detained.

The exact reasons for the arrests remain unclear.

Government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told local media outlet Eye Radio that the arrests were “not political” and were a “direct response to irregularities identified within the monetary system.” He said that a committee was investigating “financial malpractices.”

Edmund Yakani, a prominent civic leader, said Saturday that the mood in Juba was tense among politicians fearing detention. “So far, these arrests have mostly targeted financial institutions, but if the arrests carry into the security sectors it will be very dangerous,” he said.

Daniel Akech of the International Crisis Group said the arrests showed a narrowing of the president’s “big tent” coalition, which he has relied on for years to maintain control of a fractured political landscape.

The war in Sudan is hurting South Sudan’s economy, which is overwhelmingly dependent on oil exports. All of South Sudan’s oil flows through pipelines in Sudan.

Since the South Sudan war began in 2023, pipeline ruptures have at times put more than 60% of oil production offline. The World Bank estimates that South Sudan’s economy shrunk 24% in 2025.

In 2024, the International Crisis Group warned that the disruption of oil production could lead to much wider political violence as Kiir runs out of petrodollars “to keep South Sudan’s rivalrous generals and warlords on his side.”

The regime is already facing an armed rebellion. Opposition leader Riek Machar is under house arrest and on trial for alleged subversion, charges he denies. Many of his allies have since been arrested or purged from the government. Kiir suspended Machar as his deputy in September after Machar faced criminal charges.

Machar’s removal coincided with a sharp increase in violence. The U.N. estimates that thousands were killed in 2025 and 280,000 people have been displaced since December.

A U.N. inquiry has found that South Sudan’s leaders are “systematically dismantling” the 2018 peace agreement, signed to end a civil war and return Machar to a unity government with Kiir. Washington is urging peace talks again.

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Falzetta reported from Nairobi, Kenya.