New Rebel Offensive Tests Fractured South Sudan Regime

As war rages in neighboring Sudan, South Sudan confronts a crisis of its own

South Sudanese opposition commander Wesley Welebe

Opposition forces are on the move in South Sudan, striking army outposts across four states and stirring growing unease in the national capital, Juba, where the president sacked top security officials, the deputy governor of a conflict state, and the interior minister in a series of decrees Monday.

Leaders within the armed opposition group SPLM-IO now widely consider the 2018 peace agreement to have collapsed and have declared their intention to march on Juba. Although this objective does not appear to be immediately achievable, SPLM-IO attacks in several regions have displaced thousands of people, emptying towns and villages and scattering frontline army units.