South Sudan VP Machar's party trying to locate him after arrest warrant issued

(Reuters) -The party of South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar said on Wednesday it was trying to locate him after the defence minister and chief of national security "forcefully entered" his residence and delivered an arrest warrant.

In a statement, Machar's SPLM-IO party condemned "a blatant violation of the Constitution and the Revitalized Peace Agreement," which ended a 2013-2018 civil war between forces loyal to Machar on one side and to President Salva Kiir on the other.

"His bodyguards were disarmed, and an arrest warrant was delivered to him under unclear charges. Attempts are currently being made to relocate him," the statement said.

A government spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

Foreign governments have warned that civil war could break out again in South Sudan following weeks of escalating tensions that originated in fighting between government troops and a militia that has historically been close to Machar's forces.

In response to the fighting since late February in the northeastern Upper Nile State, Kiir's government has detained several officials from Machar's party, including the petroleum minister and the deputy head of the army.

Earlier on Wednesday, the United Nations reported clashes over the past 24 hours between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar outside the capital Juba.

The civil war from 2013-2018, which was fought largely along ethnic lines, resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths in the world's youngest nation. South Sudan won its independence from Sudan in 2011.

The fighting in Upper Nile has displaced 50,000 people since last month, according to the United Nations.

Norway announced on Wednesday it was temporarily shutting its embassy in Juba due to deteriorating security. The United States ordered non-emergency government personnel to leave two weeks ago.

(Reporting by Aaron Ross; Editing by Stephen Coates)