South Sudan President Salva Kiir is a man under siege as the country’s
economy teeters on the brink of collapse while civil war rages. PHOTO |
AFP
South Sudan President Salva Kiir is a man under siege as the
country’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse while civil war
rages.
On the domestic front, he is facing defiance
from some of his ministers and military personnel, forcing him to sack a
number of them. Since the beginning of the year, President Kiir has
sacked ministers, governors, top army and police officers.
Internationally,
the United States and the European Union are piling even more pressure
on him to end the four-year civil war or face sanctions and an arms
embargo.
Former finance minister Stephen Dhieu Dau
was replaced by former technical adviser in the Ministry of Trade and
Investment Salvatore Garang Mabiordit Wol, even as the president
admitted that the economy was on its knees.
“We have
lost the value of our currency and there is nothing we can do soon to
regain our currency’s value, unless we produce,” he said on March 14,
during the swearing in of Mr Wol.
Mr Dau had also
served in the Petroleum and Mining and Trade and Industry dockets before
being appointed the minister of finance in July 2016. His removal was
linked to a struggle for influence and resources.
Sources say that the Jieng Council of Elders — a Dinka cultural
group that is supposed to safeguard the community’s culture — has turned
itself into a kitchen Cabinet with considerable influence in
appointments made in almost all departments.
Powerful
Information
Minister Michael Makuei Lueth, who is also the government spokesperson,
has become powerful to the point of sometimes defying the president due
to what pundits say is his strong backing from the Jonglei — who have a
strong representation in the army.
Former education minister Peter Adwok Nyaba told The EastAfrican
that President Kiir lost control of the state when he allowed the Bahr
el Ghazal elders and then the Jieng Council of Elders to make crucial
decisions on the basis of ethnicity.
In February,
President Kiir sacked former inspector-general of police Saeed Chawul
Lom and replaced him with Majak Akech Malok. The president also sacked
Tonj state governor Akech Tong Aleu and his Yei River state counterpart
David Lokonga Moses, replacing them with Anthony Bol Madut and Emanuel
Adil respectively. Governors are elected officials.
Other
governors who have been sacked are Ismail Konyi, governor of Boma
state, Bor Wutchok Bor of Eastern Lakes state, and Peter Gatkuoth of
Latjor state.
Foreign Minister Deng Alor refused to
return home after the end of the second phase of the peace talks in
Addis Ababa in early February, claiming he had received death threats.
According
to Gen Lemi Logwonga Lomuro, the chief co-ordinator of the Centre for
Citizen Interface in South Sudan, the challenge facing President Kiir’s
leadership is that of a lack of culture of critical advice, which also
attracts immediate recrimination and punishment.
In
January, the South Sudan Ambassador to Russia Telar Riing Deng resigned
citing “lack of trust” from the president. He had earlier been summoned
to return home for consultations within 72 hours.
Now,
Juba is concerned that former chief of staff Gen Paul Malong, who has
been in Nairobi since his release from house arrest last November, has
travelled to Khartoum, where he met with the head of the Sudanese
National Security and Intelligence Service Salah Al-Gosh among other
high-ranking Sudanese officials.
Juba believes that
the former influential head of the army is planning a coup or a new
rebellion and in January wrote to the Kenya government seeking his
deportation for involvement in activities undermining the stability of
South Sudan.
Besides the continued war, the country
saw inflation hit 117.70 per cent. South Sudan is also dealing with a
decision by the US Treasury to impose sanctions against 15 South
Sudanese oil and oil-related companies whose revenues are said to have
contributed to the ongoing crisis in the country.
President
Kiir is aware that Washington has lost faith in him after the US
Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, recently described him as
an “unfit” partner in the peace process.
Ms Haley
said Washington was “disappointed” by the performance and actions of the
Juba government under President Kiir after supporting its 2011
independence and investing over $11 billion.
Both the
US and the EU are piling pressure for the Addis Ababa process to produce
genuine peace. The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development called
the involved parties for consultations in Addis Ababa on March 26.
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