South Sudan’s first vice president, Riek Machar, has been charged with treason, murder and crimes against humanity. The justice minister announced the charges on Thursday, linking them to attacks on a military base in Nasir in March, which left more than 250 soldiers dead.
Authorities allege that the White Army, a militia of armed youths, carried out the assault on Machar’s orders. Seven others, including a former petroleum minister, have also been charged over what officials describe as a rebellion plot.
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Justice Minister Joseph Geng Akech said the crimes involved desecration of corpses, persecution of civilians and attacks on aid workers, in violation of international humanitarian law. Machar and President Salva Kiir have long been rivals, with civil war erupting in 2013 after Kiir accused him of plotting a coup.
That conflict killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced about four million before a 2018 peace deal brought the two leaders into a unity government. But the arrangement has begun to unravel this year amid renewed fighting in the Upper Nile state.
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