South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has violated a peace deal by appointing a member of his own party as defense minister. The decree, which was read on state media, states that the role should be selected by the party of First Vice President and opposition leader, Riek Machar. The newly appointed defense minister, Angelina Teny, who is also Machar’s wife, was fired alongside the interior minister this month, reigniting longstanding disagreements over how the two war veterans share power.
In 2018, Salva Kiir and Riek Machar’s forces signed a peace agreement that ended five years of civil war. The conflict killed 400,000 people and triggered Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. However, the implementation of the deal has been slow, and bouts of fighting have continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians.
This week a decree was read on state TV, announcing that Salva Kiir had replaced Angelina Teny with Chol Thon Balok, a loyal general and former governor of Upper Nile state, as the new defense minister. “The appointment of Chol Thon as a minister of defense is unilateral and a new blatant violation of the peace agreement,” said Puok Both Baluang, Riek Machar’s spokesperson, calling for Teny to be reinstated.
A meeting this month aimed at resolving the rift between Salva Kiir and Riek Machar ended in a deadlock. The impasse is likely to cause paralysis in the implementation of the peace deal, which is meant to culminate in a national election at the end of 2024, according to Boboya James, a policy analyst at the Juba-based Institute of Social Policy and Research. “Salva Kiir wants to have all the powerful institutions,” James said. “What he is doing is to consolidate that level of power between now and towards the elections.”
The appointment of Chol Thon as defense minister has further fueled tensions between Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, who are already at odds over a number of issues related to the peace deal. The move by Salva Kiir is seen by many as an attempt to consolidate power ahead of the elections in 2024. However, critics argue that this move will only further undermine the fragile peace agreement and threaten the stability of the country.
Despite the signing of the peace deal in 2018, South Sudan continues to face significant challenges in its efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability. The ongoing conflict has resulted in the displacement of millions of people and has left the country on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. The international community has called for an immediate end to the fighting and for all parties to fully implement the peace deal, but progress has been slow and the situation remains precarious.
The appointment of Salva Kiir’s loyalist as defense minister is a clear violation of the peace agreement signed in 2018. The role of defense minister was to be selected by the party of First Vice President and opposition leader, Riek Machar. However, the president’s decision to appoint Chol Thon Balok, a former governor of Upper Nile state, has sparked outrage from Machar’s camp. Machar’s spokesperson, Puok Both Baluang, has called for the reinstatement of Angelina Teny, who was fired alongside the interior minister earlier this month.
The ongoing power struggle between Salva Kiir and Riek Machar has further exacerbated tensions in the country. The peace deal, which was meant to end the five-year civil war that claimed the lives of 400,000 people, has been marred by slow implementation and continued fighting.
