South Sudan’s fragile peace tested as calls mount to replace Machar with SPLM-IO breakaway leader

South Sudan’s political stability faces renewed strain after General Khamis Abdel-Latif Chawul Lom urged President Salva Kiir Mayardit to replace First Vice President Riek Machar with Stephen Par Kuol, leader of a breakaway SPLM-IO faction.

Machar, a key architect of the 2018 peace accord, has been under house arrest since March over an ongoing criminal investigation, a move that has deepened divisions within his party. In April, the SPLM-IO splintered, with Kuol’s Juba-based faction pledging to work with Kiir while Machar loyalists rallied around his deputy, Oyet Nathaniel.

Gen. Khamis, once a member of Machar’s SPLM-IO but now aligned with Kiir, argued that Kuol’s leadership is essential to safeguarding the peace agreement. He warned that delays in decision-making would embolden international actors to intervene, stressing that only swift action—such as appointing Kuol as First Vice President and recognizing his allies—could preserve the country’s fragile political balance. His remarks followed an announcement of joint military operations between Oyet’s faction and the rebel National Salvation Front, which Khamis said risked derailing the peace process altogether.

Civil society voices, however, have cautioned against unilateral political maneuvers. Edmund Yakani, a prominent peace observer, warned that undermining Machar’s legitimacy or sidelining any of the signatories to the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement would amount to spoiling the hard-won deal. He emphasized that the accord remains the only legitimate framework for guiding South Sudan from conflict to peace, and that fueling factional rivalries weakens its very foundation. As political tensions sharpen, the specter of renewed instability looms large over the country’s delicate transition.