South Sudan arrests 10 including ex-ministers amid clashes

The government of South Sudan said Tuesday it has arrested 10 leading figures, many of them former ministers, as clashes raged for two days in the capital. The clashes, which have left scores of people dead, most of them soldiers, pitted troops loyal to President Salva Kiir against those allied to deposed vice-president Riek Machar. A further five people, including Machar, were on the run, Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said in a statement. Those on the run also include Pagan Amum, a former secretary-general of the rebel group turned ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). Amum was chief negotiator for South Sudan in talks with Khartoum to resolve outstanding issues following the South's independence in 2011. Also on the run is Taban Deng Gai, the former governor of oil-rich Unity State and Alfred Ladu Gore, a civil war hero, the government said. Of the 10 arrested, at least eight are ex-ministers, the most prominent among them being ex-internal affairs minister Geir Choung Aloung, ex-deputy defence minister Majak Agot and Deng Alor Koul, a top SPLM figure who served as foreign minister when Sudan was still united.