President Salva Kiir Mayardit has sacked First Vice President Dr Riek Machar in absentia.

In a presidential decree announced on the national television, SSBC, last evening, President Kiir replaced Dr Machar with the mining minister, Taban Deng Gai.

The development comes days after the presidency gave Dr Machar a 48-hour ultimatum to return to Juba to continue to implement the August 2015 peace agreement.

Since he fled Juba amidst clashes between his forces and the SPLA early this month, Dr Machar’s whereabouts remains unknown.

According to the decree, President Kiir based his decision on recommendations made by “top leadership of the SPLM/A-IO” in Juba.

However, an SPLM-IO camp yesterday opposed the endorsement of Mr Taban, who they said had already been expelled from the opposition.

And another camp argued that the dismissal of Mr Taban from the SPLM-IO was” illegal” and “baseless”.

In a separate decree, the President has fired finance minister David Deng Athorbei.

Stephen Dhieu Dau, the Minister of Trade and Industry, replaces Mr Athorbei.