Description: The military wing of the SPLM – IO political party, called the White Army militia, loyal to detained Vice – President Riek Machar have conducted three separate strikes on military outposts in the northeastern city of Nasir in South Sudan. Military spokespeople have announced that four soldiers lost their lives while ten members of the White Army militia were neutralized. The armed confrontations began back in Mar, where ethnic and political tensions in the fragile power sharing agreement between incumbent President Salva Kiir and Vice – President Riek Machar escalated which resulted with Machar’s detention. The controversial media censorship in the country has disabled news outlets from regularly reporting on the violence in the country which has been ongoing for the past five months.
Impact: The political and military crisis in South Sudan continues to inflict and attribute towards the larger instability in the region, coupled with the raging civil war in neighboring Sudan and renewed tensions in Ethiopia, between the federal government and the Tigray’s People Liberation Front. Tensions between Kiir and Machar erupted in Mar, which was followed by Machar’s arrest and escalation in armed violence between the White Army militia and the country’s military. Several mediation efforts, primarily through the African Union have faltered so far, as Kiir’s grasp on power in the country continues to incite political persecution of opponents and deflecting narratives of governmental changes. The inner conflict between the country’s military and the White Army militia would continue, potentially expanding and morphing within other regional flashpoints such as Ethiopia and Sudan extending a substantial state of regional instability.