Salva Kiir South Sudan president sacks army chief

President Salva Kiir

President Salva Kiir of South Sudan

President Salva Kiir
President Salva Kiir of South Sudan
President Salva Kiir of South Sudan has sacked the country’s army chief, Johnson Juma Okot.

Three other senior intelligence officers, were also sacked.

Kiir announced the sack in a decree aired on State television (SSBC) on Saturday evening.

He replaced Okot with Santino Deng Wol.

Okot was appointed chief of South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) in May last year to replace Gabriel Riak Jok.

No reasons were given for the decision to sack the officials by the presidency.

Related News

Kiir also replaced Nhial Deng Nhial as minister of presidential affairs with Barnaba Marial Benjamin.

Benjamin, prior to being appointed minister of presidential affairs, had been the lead negotiator of the government in talks with hold-out opposition groups in Rome, Italy.

These opposition groups refused to sign the 2018 revitalized peace agreement in Ethiopia.

In addition, Kiir also sacked Reuben Malek, deputy minister of defense and veterans affairs replacing him with Chol Thon Balok.

The president also sacked the director-general of external intelligence Thomas Duoth.

He was replaced with Simon Yien Makuac.

Load more