A court in South Sudan on Wednesday suspended the live broadcast of the trial of Riek Machar, former deputy to President Salva Kiir Mayardit, who is facing treason charges in a case that has raised fears of a return to civil war.
Machar and seven other defendants had been scheduled to testify on Wednesday, but the court ruled that the video livestreaming of the sessions, which had been available in previous hearings, must stop in order to protect witnesses.
An eyewitness inside the courtroom said the testimonies of four of the defendants were read before the court granted the prosecution’s request to adjourn, but Machar’s testimony was not among those presented.
The prosecution said it would submit documents and physical evidence linking Machar and the other defendants to an attack in which the so-called “White Army”—a group of young fighters from Machar’s Nuer ethnic group—seized a military base in Nasir, in the country’s northeast.
In his testimony, dismissed Oil Minister Bout Kang Chol, one of the defendants, said he had delivered a message from Machar to the White Army urging them not to fight.
The trial is set to resume on Friday.
Machar’s indictment on September 11 on charges of murder, treason, and crimes against humanity—followed just hours later by his dismissal from office via presidential decree—has fueled concerns of renewed conflict nearly seven years after a civil war between his supporters and those of President Salva Kiir claimed no fewer than 400,000 lives between 2013 and 2018.
A peace agreement signed in 2018 ended the bloody conflict and stipulated a power-sharing arrangement between the two sides. However, following Machar’s indictment, his supporters called for military mobilization to “change the regime” in South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011.
Last week, the United Nations announced that more than 1,800 civilians had been killed in South Sudan between January and September amid sharply escalating political tensions.
In September, the UN also released a report accusing the government of looting billions of dollars in oil revenues since independence, despite the near absence of basic services such as health and education.