Uganda’s military chief Muhoozi Kaiinerugaba said Uganda has deployed special forces to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, to help Salva Kiir “security it”.
The move comes as tensions between Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar escalated, which has raised concerns that their fragile peace agreements could collapse and that the conflict could recover.
General Kaierugaba did not give reasons for deployment to neighboring countries, but said that any action against Kiel was “a declaration of war against Uganda”.
He added on social media platform X: “We will protect the entire territory of South Sudan like ourselves.”
The South Sudanese government has not commented on the deployment.
Concerns about the security situation in South Sudan have been increasing, with the United States ordering the evacuation of all non-emergency workers on Saturday.
Last week, the Deputy Army Director and two ministers – all of Machar’s allies – were arrested by security forces, which an opposition spokesman called a “serious violation” of the peace agreement.
After that, one of the ministers was released.
The arrests followed a clash between the government forces and a militia known as the White Army.
After the power struggle between him and Keel, he fought side by side with Machar during the Civil War.
This led to a fierce battle in Juba, where Kiir accused Machar of orchestrating a coup.
Machar denied the allegation, but South Sudan then fell into a civil war, killing 400,000 people.
A power-sharing agreement between the two in 2018 prevented the fight, but key elements of the deal have not been implemented yet – including a new constitution, elections and unification of armed groups into one army.
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