Description: South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir, in a televised address to the nation has issued a decree, dismissing one of the country’s five Vice – Presidents, Benjamin Bol Mel, who was suspected as the most likely successor of Salva Kiir. Bol Mel was also stripped from the rank of general, a promotion he was granted with in Sep by President Kiir. Bol Mel’s dismissal arrives on the back of a mounting political crisis in the country and during the trial of South Sudan’s first Vice – President Riek Machar on charges of treason. Armed confrontations between the nation’s military and the White Army militia loyal to Riek Machar have also been escalating in the past couple of months raising concerns of a renewed civil war in the country. Kiir also dismissed the standing chief of the military cabinet in Oct and replaced him with his predecessor in what appeared to be a wider restructuring of the government’s cabinet.
Impact: Kiir’s dismissal of his most likely successor indicates that South Sudan’s President is doubling down on his tightening of political power in the country while intensifying its authoritarian grip on ruling power. The reshuffles in the existing cabinet indicate growing political, ideological and ethnical divisions within Kiir’s political camp which signals high potential for escalation of the political crisis which could eventually lead towards renewed civil war. South Sudan’s presidential election has been rescheduled for 2026 after being cancelled twice in 2022 and 2024. Machar’s trial has had a unifying effect within the oppositional ranks, as the White Army militia and other nonaligned militant groups have been silently mobilizing and challenging the military through spontaneous attacks in several conflict flashpoints across the country. The escalation of the crisis could potentially plunge the country into renewed chaos, especially considering the ongoing civil war in Sudan which has had a consistent impact on some political and militant elements in the neighboring South Sudan.