S.Sudan opposition says vice-president treason charges 'fabricated'

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South Sudan's opposition on Friday dismissed charges against Vice-President Riek Machar, including treason, murder and crimes against humanity, as "fabricated" and aimed at pushing for "total authoritarian rule" in the world's youngest nation.

A fragile power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, First Vice-President Machar, has been unravelling for months.

The deal fractured further on Thursday after Machar -- who has been under house arrest since March -- was indicted on charges including murder, treason and crimes against humanity over an ethnic militia's attack on a military base early that month.

The so-called White Army, a loose band of fighters drawn from the same ethnic Nuer community as Machar, attacked the base in Nasir County, Upper Nile State in the northeast of the country, killing more than 250 soldiers.

Reath Muoch Tang, a senior official in Machar's party, said in a post on Facebook there was no evidence of Machar's involvement in the attack and that his house arrest was unlawful".

"The charges are fabricated to abrogate the (power-sharing) agreement," said Tang.

He said the charges were designed to "sideline Dr. Machar... and entrench total government control."

The UN warned earlier this year that South Sudan was "witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress."

Other international bodies have increasingly sounded an alarm over the situation with some embassies closing and urging their citizens to leave the country.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but was quickly plunged into a devastating five-year civil war between Kiir and Machar that left some 400,000 dead.

The war ended with a power-sharing agreement in 2018, but attempts by the international community to ensure a democratic transition have failed.

Elections that were due to take place in December 2024 were again postponed to 2026.