![President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny speaking to the press in February 2020 ahead of the dissolution of the former incumbent TGoNU [Photo via Radio Tamazuj]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/WhatsApp-Image-2020-05-06-at-7.49.42-AM.jpeg?ssl=1)
JUBA — South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has rejected the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition’s nominee for deputy minister of interior, First Vice President and SPLM-IO leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny has said.
Last month, a spokesman for Machar told Sudans Post that the SPLM-IO had submitted a female nominee from the oil-rich region of Abyei to President Salva Kiir Mayardit for appointment to replace Mabior Garang De Mabior who had deserted the position last year.
The opposition official said at the time that they hadn’t received any letter of rejection from President Salva Kiir Mayardit though the nomination was made about seven months ago along with other appointments which have been done by the president.
In a communique following a meeting of the SPLM-IO Political Bureau in Juba on Wednesday, Machar said his group “discussed the blatant violations” of the revitalized peace agreement by the president including “refusal by the President to appoint the SPLM/A (IO) nominee to the positlon of Deputy Minister of Interior whose nomination was submitted on February 1, 2021.”
The rejection by President Salva Kiir Mayardit is not the first of its kind. In June last year, President Salva Kiir refused opposition nominee, General Johnson Olony Thabo, for governorship of the oil-rich Upper Nile state, giving Machar one week to replace him.
Kiir had claimed that the controversial opposition commander was a warmonger who he said would jeopardize reconciliation efforts among the bitter Upper Nile state communities.
Machar had to made a key compromise replacing General Johnson Olony with Governor Abudhok Anyang, a decision that has largely motivated General Johnson Olony to stay out of the peace agreement until his defection yesterday.
Machar also expressed concerns “on the refusal by the president to accept the outcome of the Joint Security Mechanlsms Workshop of May 10th-11th 2019, facilitated by IGAD and RJMEC and signed by the JDB Co-Chalrs on September 9h, 2019.”
