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UNITED NATIONS (AP) \u2014 The United Nations chief urged regional and international leaders Friday to prevent South Sudan<\/a> from falling \u201cover the abyss\u201d into another civil war<\/a> and speak with one voice to support a return to peace.<\/p>\n Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world\u2019s newest and one of its poorest countries is facing \u201ca security emergency\u201d with intensifying clashes and a \u201cpolitical upheaval\u201d culminating with this week\u2019s arrest by the government of First Vice President Riek Machar.<\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile, ethnic and political targeting<\/a> by security forces \u2014 coupled with the spread of misinformation on social media \u2014 is lighting the fuse for even worse,\u201d he warned. \u201cLet\u2019s not mince words: What we are seeing is darkly reminiscent of the 2013 and 2016 civil wars, which killed 400,000 people.\u201d<\/p>\n The civil wars ended in a 2018 peace agreement that brought President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and Machar, an ethnic Nuer, together in a unity government, which is supposed to be heading toward delayed national elections in December 2026.<\/p>\n But tensions have been increasing between Kiir’s and Machar\u2019s parties, and they escalated in March when the White Army, an armed group loyal to Machar, overran an army base in Upper Nile state and attacked a U.N. helicopter.<\/a> The government responded with deadly airstrikes.<\/a><\/p>\n Guterres urged South Sudan\u2019s leaders to \u201cend the politics of confrontation,\u201d restore the national unity government, and release detained military and civilian officials now.<\/p>\n \u201cI also urge the regional and international community, as guarantors of the (2018) peace agreement, to speak with one voice in support of the peace process and against any attempts to undermine it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Guterres said he spoke to the chair of the African Union Commission on Friday morning and announced the U.N.\u2019s support for the deployment of the AU\u2019s five-member Panel of the Wise and the special envoy of Kenya\u2019s President William Ruto to South Sudan\u2019s capital, Juba, to pursue a diplomatic solution.<\/p>\n The U.N. chief said the Panel of the Wise and Kenyan envoy Raila Odinga will visit both Kiir and Machar.<\/p>\n Odinga, a former prime minister of Kenya, was in Juba on Friday. But it was not immediately clear if he was able to meet with Machar.<\/p>\n South Sudan\u2019s Information Minister Michael Makuei said in a statement Friday that Machar was under house arrest pending an investigation into subversive activities.<\/p>\n Machar was arrested to maintain stability and prevent the country from sliding back into conflict, he said, adding that the 2018 peace agreement with Machar remains in place.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreement has not collapsed,\u201d Makuei said.<\/p>\n