Uganda says special forces deploy in South Sudan capital amid tensions

Uganda's military chief said Tuesday his country had deployed special forces in South Sudan's capital Juba to "secure it" as tensions between President Salva Kiir and his First Vice President Riek Machar stoke fears of a return to civil war. Tensions have been growing in recent days in South Sudan, an oil producer, after Kiir's government detained two ministers and several senior military officials allied with Machar. One minister has since been released. The arrests in Juba and deadly clashes around the northern town of Nasir are seen as jeopardizing 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar that cost nearly 400,000 lives. "As of two days ago, our Special Forces units entered Juba to secure it," Uganda's military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said in a series of posts on the X platform overnight into Tuesday. "We the UPDF (Ugandan military), only recognize one President of South Sudan, H.E. Salva Kiir ... any move against him is a declaration of war against Uganda," he said in another post. South Sudan government information minister and the military spokesperson did not pick up phone calls seeking comment. After the civil war erupted in South Sudan in 2013, Uganda deployed its troops in Juba to bolster Kiir's forces against Machar. They were eventually withdrawn in 2015. Ugandan troops were again deployed in Juba in 2016 after fighting reignited between the two sides but they also were eventually withdrawn. Uganda fears a full-blown conflagration in its northern neighbor could send waves of refugees across the border and potentially create instability. Kainerugaba did not say whether the latest deployment was in response to a request from Kiir's government or how long the troops would remain in South Sudan. Messi, who captained Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title in Qatar, has been sidelined several times by Inter Miami this season because of injury concerns. His Argentina teammates left no doubt about their hopes for Messi to return. "With Messi we might have scored two or three more goals," said striker Julián Álvarez, who scored one goal against Brazil. Bolívia's failure to beat Uruguay on Tuesday assured Argentina, which leads the South American qualifiers with 31 points, of one of the continent's six direct spots for the 48-team World Cup to be co-hosted next year by the United States, Canada and Mexico. After Tuesday's big win at Monumental de Nunez Stadium, midfielder Rodrigo De Paul seemed to speak for the whole country. "The best of our teams is always when the No. 10 is playing," De Paul said, "because he is the greatest of all time."