![South Sudan's president Salva Kiir attends a medals awarding ceremony for long serving servicemen of the South Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in Bilpam, military headquarters in Juba, South Sudan January 24, 2019.[Photo by Samir Bol REUTERS]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/download-6.jpg?resize=850%2C566&quality=89&ssl=1)
The sweeping shakeup comes as the country prepares for its first elections since independence in 2011.
In the decrees read out on state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Kiir sacked minister of presidential affairs Barnaba Marial Benjamin, replacing him with Joseph Bangasi Bakasoro, who was until then the minister of public service.
In another decree, the president appointed Dak Duop Bichiok, a former senior SPLM-IO official who briefly served as minister of petroleum in 2016, as the new minister of public service.
Kiir also dismissed minister of trade and industry Kuol Athian Kuol, replacing him with William Anyuon.
In a separate move, the president sacked Warrap State Governor Manhiem Bol Malek, appointing Kuol Muor Muor in his place.
No official reasons were given for the cabinet reshuffle, but it comes less than two weeks after Kiir ousted the country’s police chief following a purported coup attempt that led to the detention of at least 27 members of the armed forces.
The reshuffle also follows the removal of minister of youth and sports Albino Bol Dhieu, a move that came after years of friction between Dhieu and South Sudan National Youth Union (SSNYU) leader Gola Boyoi Gola.
South Sudan, which the world’s youngest country, gained independence from Sudan in July 2011, but soon plunged into a deadly tribal conflict led by President Kiir and opposition leader, and now first vice president, Riek Machar.
The war ended with a peace agreement in September 2018, and elections are now expected to take place for the first time since independence in December 2024.
