President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar are not in control of their troops, according to South Sudan's former deputy minister of defense.
Majak D'Agoot said some individuals within the South Sudan Army have taken advantage of the confusion to create insecurity in Juba, and insisted that South Sudan needs urgent intervention by the international community to restore peace in the capital.
D'Agoot said Kiir and Machar as much as admitted they were not in charge of their troops when fighting broke out near the presidential State House on Friday, when they were both inside.
"They said that when the shootout occurred in J-1 [presidential State House], within the very vicinity of their presence, they were saying that they didn't know what was taking place outside the walls of the palace. So basically it shows that these are leaders who are not in charge, even of their bodyguards, let alone the rest of the country," D’Agoot said. "So the country is basically, if I can put it in quotes, ‘leaderless’ at the moment, because leadership is all about command and control."
D'Agoot declared that both leaders had plunged the country into a total state of anarchy.
"I personally don't think they command the respect of their soldiers, or that they command the trust of the people of South Sudan. So I really don't think that anybody is going to listen," he said.
D'Agoot said he hopes for the best and that all the war lords who "now call the shots on both sides" will accept and adhere to the terms of the cease-fire.
D'Agoot added that he thinks the two leaders did the right thing Friday after the shootout when they both appealed for calm, but he said they have lost the respect of their own men and their own bodyguards.
"Nobody is listening to them," D'Agoot said, and that's the reason why the fighting resumed.