Who is Riek Machar, South Sudan's embattled vice president?


  • World
  • Thursday, 27 Mar 2025

FILE PHOTO: South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar takes the oath of office at the State House in Juba, South Sudan, February 22, 2020. REUTERS/Samir Bol/File Photo

(Reuters) -The reported house arrest of Riek Machar, the former bush rebel leader who became South Sudan's First Vice President, marks the latest turn in the turbulent relationship with his rival, President Salva Kiir, after a five-year civil war.

The two men, now in their early 70s, launched a conflict in 2013 that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, as the newly independent nation fractured along ethnic lines with Kiir leading largely Dinka forces against Nuer fighters allied with Machar.

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