The detention of South Sudan's First Vice-President Riek Machar has effectively collapsed the 2018 peace deal that ended the country's five-year civil war, his party has said. An armed convoy led by top security officials,

South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar is under arrest and will be investigated, the government said on Friday - the first official confirmation of a detention that world powers fear could tip the nation back into war.

South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar was arrested and placed under house arrest, his party said. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition, or SPLM-IO, said that several South Sudanese military officials entered Machar's home Wednesday and served documents written and signed by President Salva Kiir.

The United Nations warned that the detention of Vice President Riek Machar threatens to push the world’s youngest country back into civil war.

South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar is under arrest and will be investigated, the country's information minister said on Friday, raising the risk that the rift between Machar and President Salva Kiir could plunge the nation back into war.