The arrest of vice-president Riek Machar takes the country closer to a second civil war

After less than a decade and a half in existence, the world’s newest country, South Sudan, appears to be sliding towards a second civil war. A 2018 power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, the first vice-president, put an end to five years of fighting. But last week’s arrest of Mr Machar effectively ended that agreement, his party says. The United Nations warns that his house arrest, along with mounting military clashes and reports of attacks on civilians, has brought a fragile peace closer to collapse, posing a direct threat to millions.

The fear is not just of a battle between factions, but of ethnic cleansing and civilian massacres. Political violence in South Sudan has previously descended into intercommunal conflict between the Dinka ethnic group (to which Mr Kiir belongs) and the Nuer (to which Mr Machar belongs).