Kiir dismisses GPAA’s chief administrator Joshua Konyi, names Lokuli Amu as replacement

JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has on Thursday evening fired the chief administrator of the restive Greater Pibor Administrative Area Joseph Konyi and replaced him with Lokuli Amu Bullen.

Konyi’s replacement was announced on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) and no reasons were however given as to why the veteran politician was ousted.

Konyi’s replacement comes two days after a high-level delegation of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), African Union Mission in South Sudan (AUMISS), Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism (R-JMEC) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) visited Pibor to access the situation there.

The delegation said in a statement that “is concerned that violence this year could evolve into something similar to that witnessed in early 2020 when thousands of fighters from Dinka, Nuer, Murle communities conducted attacks on villages, killing and wounding hundreds of civilians.”

While acknowledging that the current fragile situation has begun to improve gradually, the delegation called on the government of South Sudan, together with community leaders in Greater Pibor and Jonglei, to take steps to silence the guns, address the root causes of the conflict and fulfill its responsibility to protect civilians.