South Sudan CDF Paul Nang fired by President Salva Kirr and replaced by CDF Dau Aturjong on Tuesday. Photo: BBC.
South Sudan President Salva Kirr has fired his Chief of Defence (CDF) Paul Nang Majok after serving in his government for seven months.
In an announcement made by the State’s radio on Tuesday July 8, Kirr did not however stated the reason for firing Majok, but fronted a name to replace him. The announced stated that President Kirr had appointed Dau Aturjong as the Chief of Defence Forces.
Majok was in charge of the army while fighting raged between the army and the White Army, an ethnic militia largely comprising Nuer youths, triggering the country’s latest political crisis.
South Sudan Army Spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang said that it was normal for the president to fire, appoint or reassign without an explanation, similarly to the relieving of one from duty.
“There has been a tradition that when you are appointed, or reassigned there are no reasons (given) for getting appointed and there are no reasons given for getting relieved. It is normal,” said Koang.
South Sudan has been formally at peace since a 2018 deal ended the five-year conflict responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but violence between rival communities flares frequently.
Leadership crisis in South Sudan has been a common phenomena this year, in March, First Vice President of South Sudan Riek Machar was put under house arrest, stirring fears of renewed conflict.
Machar was accused of orchestrating for clashes in Nasir County, agitating his forces to rebel against the government with the aim of disrupting peace so that elections are not held and South Sudan goes back to war, according to the statement that was released by government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth.
However, deputy chair of Machar’s party Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, said that unravelling power-sharing deal between Kiir and Machar risks a return of the civil war that killed around 400,000 people in five years.
