JUBA - South Sudan was on Friday night waiting for a spinning coin to settle from a meeting between President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar, part of efforts to ease tensions stemming from the controversial sacking of some government officials.
President Kiir and Dr Machar met at the presidential palace in Juba after the SPLM-IO kicked off a storm over the sacking of Defence Minister Angelina Teny, who is also Machar’s wife, on March 4.
This development caused such bad blood that Juba watchers worried about a possible slip into civil war. Some Ugandan media reported that President Kiir had earlier in the week reached out to President Yoweri Museveni for military help in case things in Juba spun out of control.
The EastAfrican could not independently verify reports that special forces of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces had been put on standby as Museveni watched the developments in Juba.
Sources say Museveni is fatigued by the continual wrangling in Juba and slow progress to peace. Ms Teny, the most recent cause of the row between the two principals, held the Defence docket as part of the 2018 peace deal, which allocated the portfolio to the SPLM-IO and Interior to Kiir’s side.
