Former South Sudanese vice-president, Riek Machar, is reportedly being held in South Africa to stop him stirring up trouble, diplomatic and political sources said on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reports.
Reuters quotes political sources saying that Machar is being held under a virtual house arrest near Pretoria, with his movements restricted and his phone calls monitored and controlled.
Officials in South Africa and Machar’s spokesperson have however since denied these claims.
Riek Machar fled to South Africa to seek medical treatment in August after fierce fighting erupted in South Sudan.
Over a million people have fled the world’s youngest nation since conflict erupted in late 2013. The cross-border exodus is the largest in central Africa since the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
