President Kiir of South Sudan removes the army chief after three months and reinstates the previous commander
South Sudan’s President fired Dau Aturjong as military chief after three months and put back in charge Paul Nang Majok, who was his predecessor.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has fired the country’s military chief, Dau Aturjong, and put back in charge Paul Nang Majok, who was fired three months ago, state television reported late Wednesday.
The sudden change brings more chaos to South Sudan’s security forces and shows how hard it is for Kiir to balance power between different groups in a country that is already unstable and dealing with internal conflict and doubt about who will take over when he dies.
In July, Aturjong was named Chief of the Defence Forces. Now, he works as a technical assistant at the defense ministry. The government didn’t say why they made the new changes.
Majok was fired earlier, not long after the army was wiped out in the northeast by a force with ties to First Vice President Riek Machar’s Nuer group. Machar, Kiir’s rival for a long time and a former rebel leader, is on trial right now on charges of treason, murder, and crimes against humanity, which he rejects.
People who back him say that the government broke the peace and power-sharing deal that ended years of bloody conflict by arresting him. This has led to fears of a new civil war.
Observers say Kiir’s frequent changes in important military and political roles show that he is trying to strengthen his control and keep the delicate balance between South Sudan’s deeply split power blocs.
The UN recently said that South Sudan’s political elite were “systematically looting” the country’s resources. They also said that ongoing unrest and corruption were hurting peace and progress in the world’s youngest country.
