Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and South Sudanese President
Salvar Kiir in Juba on March 28, 2025ODM leader Raila Odinga has expressed confidence that the crisis in South Sudan will be resolved amicably.
Raila, who issued a statement after meeting South Sudan President Salvar Kiir in the capital Juba on Friday, said he was encouraged by the possibility of a resolution to the conflict.
Raila said he had a detailed and fruitful discussion with “my brother, President Salva Kiir”.
“I will be briefing other regional leaders and President William Ruto on my mission and a possible roadmap to sustainable peace and stability,” he stated.
On Thursday, President William Ruto telephoned Kirr following reports of the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar and announced that he had dispatched a special envoy to try and ease tensions.
Ruto noted that he consulted President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali before making the decision.
“Had a phone call with President Salva Kiir on the situation leading to the arrest and detention of 1st vice President Riek Machar in South Sudan. After consultations with President Museveni and PM Abiy, I'm sending a special envoy to South Sudan to engage, try deescalate and brief us back,” he wrote on X.
Raila left the country on Friday as he embarked on the new role as special envoy to troubled South Sudan.
He took on the continental job as Ruto’s special envoy, just a month after failing to clinch the African Union top job — an assignment that would have thrust him to the centre of resolution of continental conflicts.
Ruto has taken initiative in spearheading the resolution of the crisis in South Sudan in his capacity as chair of the East African Community (EAC).
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has called on all parties to exercise restraint amid reports of the arrest of Machar.
South Sudan is again teetering on the brink of a full-scale civil war, with the United Nations warning that the situation in the country is “dire”.
Tension escalated after Machar and his wife Angelina Teny, were placed under house arrest on Wednesday night after weeks of clashes between Machar's forces and the South Sudan People's Defence Forces near the capital Juba.
UMISS chief Nicholas Haysom said the country risked losing the “hard-won gains of the past seven years” if the world’s newest nation returned to “a state of war”.
"Tonight, the country’s leaders stand on the brink of relapsing into widespread conflict or taking the country forward towards peace, recovery and democracy in the spirit of the consensus that was reached in 2018 when they signed and committed to implementing a Revitalised Peace Agreement,” Haysom said in a statement on Thursday.
Machar’s party has said the arrest has effectively collapsed the 2018 peace deal that ended the country's five-year civil war.
Sudan People's Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM/IO) said an armed convoy led by top security officials entered Machar's residence in Juba, and disarmed his bodyguards late on Wednesday.
The party said Machar was detained alongside his wife Angelina Teny, who is the country's interior minister.
