South Sudan’s president fires the country’s longtime security chief

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir fired the country’s longtime intelligence chief and replaced him with a close ally, according to a presidential order reported by the state broadcaster SSBC.

Akol Koor Kuc was fired. He had been in charge of the National Security Service’s (NSS) controversial internal security bureau since the country got its freedom from Sudan in 2011. This happened just a few weeks after the transitional government announced yet another election delay.

Last month, Kiir’s office said that the transitional phase would be extended by two years and that elections would be delayed again, after being delayed in 2022. This caused the US and other countries that support the country’s peace process to criticize the move.

It was not possible to reach the government spokesman or the president’s office by phone.

Rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been saying for a long time that the NSS has too much power in the country and can go after activists and members of civil society who are against the government without being caught.

Analysts say that the move to fire the intelligence chief, which was made public late Wednesday night, shows that there is a power struggle at the highest levels of the government.

“A lot of thought has gone into what to do with Akol Koor. Boboya James, a policy and security analyst, told Reuters, “The president doesn’t want to make decisions too quickly that could hurt national security.”

“Now, with the extension of the peace agreement, he would want to consolidate power by beginning to bring loyalists” to the top, James said.

Akec Tong Aleu, the new head of intelligence, is a close friend of Kiir.

In 2018, South Sudan finished a five-year civil war. However, disagreements between Kiir and Riek Machar, who led the two sides of the conflict, have made it very hard to finish the peace process.