Kiir sacks foreign minister Beatrice Khamisa, appoints Mayiik Ayii as replacement

JUBA – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has issued a Republic Decree sacking the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Beatrice Khamisa Wani appointing a former government official as replacement.

The decree read out on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) did not, however, give reason behind the sacking of the country’s minister of foreign affairs who was just appointed over a year ago.

Khamisa was appointed in March 2020 following the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-RGONU) which saw the appointment of ex-rebels representing different signatories of the revitalized peace agreement into the unity government.

Prior to her appointment as foreign minister in 2020, Khamisa served as South Sudan’s ambassador to Germany. She was the second female South Sudanese politician to serve as foreign minister after Awut Deng Achuil who is now the minister of general education.

In a separate decree, President Kiir appointed Mayiik Ayii Deng, the former minister of foreign affairs who was replaced in June 2020 over a scandal surrounding the Juba-Bahr el Ghazal Highway, as the new minister of foreign affairs.

Mayiik’s appointment into the top diplomatic position comes a month after he met – alongside President Salva Kiir Mayardit – a then visiting Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok at the state house J1.

The appearance of Mayiik, an ordinary citizen, at the meeting of the two heads of states sparked speculations on social media that the former presidential minister was being considered by the president for appointment into the foreign ministry position.

In a separate decree, President Kiir also dismissed the commissioner of Maridi County in Western Equatoria state, Simon Alfred, replacing him with Bodi Michael, without also giving reasons for the changes.