By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

The deputy chairman of South Sudan rebels, Alfred Ladu Gore has arrived in the war-torn country’s capital, Juba as tension rises between the group and the national army, ahead of the arrival of the insurgents’ leader Riek Machar on April 18.

“Our advance team led by our chief negotiator Taban Deng Gai came here to proclaim peace, and I have come here today to reaffirm that peace. This peace will not be reversed, it will move forward,” Gen. Gore told journalists Tuesday upon arrival in Juba.

The National Security Service (NSS) earlier today allegedly arrested 16 opposition members seeking to mobilize people to turn out for a reception for their deputy chairman, Machar’s spokesperson, James Gatdet Dak, said in an emailed statement to Anadolu Agency.

Machar’s groups have also accused the South Sudanese army chief of insubordination and of being a threat to the implementation of an August peace deal as well as lack of command and control.

This new development raises serious concerns about the fate of the peace agreement and fear of military confrontation between rival forces.

South Sudanese army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang denied these accusations and said the national army, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) chain of command and control is clear, intact and functions well.

“This is a cheap political-cum-military gimmick aimed at planting seeds of suspicion and mistrust,” Koang told Anadolu Agency.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million have been displaced since civil war erupted in the world’s youngest nation in December 2013.

President Salva Kiir and Machar last August signed a peace deal that committed them to forming a transitional government of national unity.

Despite this commitment, the accord has faced repeated delays and outbreaks of violence have continued.