South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Wednesday appointed a new defense minister who is a member of his own party, reported Reuters.
In a presidential decree read on television, President Kiir announced the appointment of Gen. Chol Thon Balok as the new minister of defense and veterans affairs. Until now, Gen. Chol Thon served as the country’s deputy defense minister.
Earlier this month, the South Sudanese president sacked defense minister Angelina Teny, a leading member of First Vice President Riek Machar’s SPLM-IO party. Angelina is also Machar’s wife.
The president swapped the defense ministry set for Machar’s party to his party and handed Machar the interior ministry, re-igniting long-standing disagreements over how the two leaders share power. Kiir also sacked the country’s Foreign Minister Mayiik Ayii Deng without proving any explanation for the same.
Notably, Kiir’s decision to fire the ministers goes against the terms of the 2018 peace agreement.
Back in 2018, Kiir and Machar’s forces signed a peace agreement that put an end to five years of civil war that killed more than 400,000 people. The civil war also led to one of the biggest refugee crises in Africa since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
As per the conditions of the peace agreement, Machar’s party was authorized to select the country’s defense minister, while Kiir’s party would appoint the interior minister.
Implementation of the deal has been slow, and fighting has continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians.
Commenting on the South Sudanese president’s latest move, Puok Both Baluang, director of information and acting press secretary for Machar, said the appointment of the new minister was made without consultations.
“All the meetings held and the consultations made in an attempt to resolve the disagreement have not been successful,” Puok said adding that the decision was made without any discussion.
He said the SPLM-IO leadership will hold a meeting and decide on the next move.
