South Sudan’s Machar says ‘peace spoilers’ removed him from party

Country’s VP says those who announced his removal no longer members of the movement’s military command council.

South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar has accused rival military leaders, who announced he had been deposed as leader of the political party and the armed forces, of trying to block the country’s peace process. On Wednesday, the military wing of his SPLM/A-IO movement said it had removed Machar, who helped push his partner, President Salva Kiir, to a peace deal in 2018 and the subsequent formation of a unity government, for undermining reforms. But in a rejoinder issued late on the same day, Machar said those who had issued the statement were no longer members of the movement’s military command council.