Bol Mel, a prominent vice president, is fired by the president of South Sudan
Benjamin Bol Mel, who is largely seen as Kiir’s own handpicked successor, was fired by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Wednesday as vice president and deputy leader of the ruling party, according to a decree broadcast on state television.
The head of the revenue authority and the governor of the central bank, both of whom were perceived as being close to Bol Mel, who was named one of the nation’s five vice presidents in February, were both dismissed by the president.
The actions increase the ongoing change in South Sudan’s top leadership at a time when concerns about a potential civil war recur and uncertainty surround Kiir’s succession.
Claims of corruption were made against Bol Mel.
The youngest nation in the world, South Sudan, gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but soon after, a civil war broke out, killing an estimated 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Kiir’s proclamation offered no reason for the dismissals, which came after hours of conjecture in Juba when the security detail outside Bol Mel’s home seemed to have been scaled back.
Bol Mel was elevated to general in September, but Kiir degraded him as well.
In September, a U.N. study accused companies connected to Bol Mel of obtaining $1.7 billion for road building work that never happened, and Bol Mel has been under U.S. sanctions since 2017 for alleged wrongdoing.
The charges of corruption against him have never been directly addressed by him.
Bol Mel was named as Kiir’s “principal financial advisor” by the U.S. Treasury when it announced sanctions against him in 2017. Kiir’s office refuted this description.
THE OUTLOOK IN POLITICS IS UNCERTAIN
Political and security elites in Juba strongly objected to his ascent to the vice presidency and his apparent position as the 74-year-old’s handpicked successor, according to observers.
South Sudan’s political situation is extremely precarious. Kiir’s primary opponent during the civil war, First Vice President Riek Machar, was detained in March and charged with treason, and planned elections were postponed in 2022 and 2024.
Recent months have seen an increase in fighting between Kiir-aligned forces and other armed groups, with Machar’s detention contributing to the conflict.
