First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar. August 4, 2022. (PPU/Facebook).

JUBA, South Sudan (Eye Radio) – The SPLM-IO, led by First Vice President Riek Machar, has reacted to the dismissal of several of its officials by President Salva Kiir, calling the move “the final nail in the coffin” of the revitalized peace agreement.

A statement from Isaac Gang, the SPLM-IO’s representative to the United States, condemned the unilateral action as a violation of the peace agreement.

In a series of presidential decrees on Wednesday evening, key SPLM-IO leaders were dismissed from both the national parliament and the cabinet. The decrees named their replacements from a splinter group of the SPLM-IO, led by interim chairman Stephen Par.

Among those dismissed were the First Deputy Speaker of the National Legislative Assembly, Nathaniel Oyet Pierino, and the Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Bec George Anyak.

The list also included the Speaker of the Council of States, Deng Deng Akon, and the SPLM-IO Secretary General, Regina Joseph Kaba.

The following individuals from Stephen Par’s group have been appointed to new positions:

• Hon Yien Chan Gach Ruei as the new Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning.
• Hon Daniel Akot Akot and Wani Elia as SPLM/IO representatives in the Council of States.
• Hon John Oto Mariano, Hon Malong Achirian, Hon Julia Simon Rial, Hon Peter Charlaman Chawach, Hon Mathew Manyot Magar, and Hon Tut Tauch Nyaw as members of the National Parliament.

The SPLM-IO stated that it was neither consulted nor had it recommended the removal of these leaders, describing the move as a “flagrant violation” of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

The statement also questioned the timing of the dismissals, which came just after a visit from the African Union Peace and Security Council.

The SPLM-IO suggested that the action “has either emboldened the President…or the ITGoNU stopped caring about what anyone thinks or says.”

The group warned that if these “unilateral actions” continue and peace guarantors remain complicit, the SPLM-IO “will be forced to state the obvious – that is, the complete collapse of the R-ARCSS.”