Uganda has deployed special forces in South Sudan's capital Juba, as tensions between President Salva Kiir and his First Vice President Riek Machar raise fears of a return to civil war.
Tension has been on the rise in South Sudan recently after Kiir's government detained two ministers and several senior military officials allied with Machar.
Uganda's military chief and first son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said on X Tuesday that Ugandan troops are in South Sudan to protect President Kiir and to secure the capital.
"We the UPDF (Ugandan Military), only recognize ONE President of South Sudan, H.E. Salva Kiir, he is our 'Afande' even in UPDF because he is the younger brother of Mzee (Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni). Any move against him is a declaration of war against Uganda. All those who commit that crime will learn what it means!" he wrote.
It is not the first time Uganda has deployed in neighboring South Sudan; in 2013, its troops were deployed in Juba when a civil war broke out to bolster Salva Kiir's forces against Machar.
At the time, the Ugandan Foreign Ministry said the military came in to protect the Juba International Airport and to ensure the evacuation of Ugandans and other nationals.
However, the Ugandan military soon took on a larger mandate, including fighting rebels on the Juba-Bor Road and recapturing Bor Town between late December 2013 and early January 2014. Observers blamed the Ugandans for using cluster bombs against the rebels and troops were eventually withdrawn in 2015.
Ugandan troops were deployed in Juba again in 2016 after fighting reignited between the two sides but they were also eventually withdrawn.
Renewed tensions are jeopardizing a 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar that cost nearly 400,000 lives.
Uganda is concerned that further escalation in South Sudan could result in a full-blown conflict, sending waves of refugees across the border and potentially destabilizing the region.
