First Vice President Riek Machar signs a document extending the transitional period by 24 months. | 4TH August 2022. | Photo: Lou Nelson/Eye Radio.

The First Vice President Dr Riek Machar has requested IGAD intervention in the deadlock over the firing and replacement of the former defense minister with an SPLM member.

Machar wrote to Abdel Fatah Al Burhan, chairman of the IGAD Assembly of the Heads of State and Government and chairman of the Sudan Transitional Sovereign Council.

“I am writing to inform you that President Kiir has unexpectedly interrupted the ongoing negotiations to resolve the recent violation by appointing the Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs,” reads the letter dated March 30, 2023.

In an exclusive interview with Eye Radio on Monday, his spokesperson Puok Both Baluang said the decision of the president is putting the peace deal in jeopardy.

“These grave violations are putting the R-ARCSS in jeopardy, and there is a need for IGAD to intervene concerning this matter and resolve all these grave violations,” he said.

Earlier in March, President Kiir dismissed Angelina Teny and Mahmoud Solomon from the defense and interior ministries.

The president then issued a similar decree – switching the ministry of defense to the SPLM docket and the interior to the SPLM-IO.

The stalemate prompted the Ethiopian Prime Ministry to visit Juba where he met President Slava Kiir and his First Deputy Riek Machar to discuss the latest stalemate.

On March 29, 2023, Kiir appointed Lt. Gen. Chol Thon Balok, who was sworn into office the next day as the new Defense Minister despite SPLM-IO disapproval of the ministerial changes.

Following the decree, Machar’s spokesperson Baluang told Eye Radio that the SPLM-IO still rejects Kiir’s decision as the two principals are yet to resolve the issue.

Several communications attached to the letter sent to IGAD show that President Salva Kiir, through the presidential affairs minister, had written to First Vice President Machar, requesting to be given the defense ministry in exchange for a key ministry from his docket.

The letter said the reason for the swap is to enable the president to exercise effective command of the national army in order to defend the country.

Machar then responded saying he believes President Kiir can still exercise command of the army with Angelina Teny as the Defense Minister.

The peace-monitoring body – Reconstituted Joint and Monitoring and Evaluation Commission previously encouraged consultation between President Kiir and his First Deputy Dr Riek Machar to resolve such disputes.