SPLM-IO blasts Kiir for sacking Upper Nile Governor

JUBA — South Sudan’s First Vice President and leader of the main armed opposition, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO), Dr. Riek Machar Teny, has rejected President Salva Kiir’s dismissal of Upper Nile State Governor James Odhok Oyay, calling the move a violation of the 2018 peace deal.

In a presidential order announced Wednesday evening on the state broadcaster South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Kiir dismissed Upper Nile Governor James Odhok Oyay, a member of SPLM-IO, and installed Lt. Gen. James Koang Chuol, a Nasir native, in his place.

This followed hostilities in Nasir County, Upper Nile, between government forces and the White Army, a Nuer ethnic group.

The SPLM-IO views the decision as a breach of the power-sharing agreement, which gave the SPLM-IO the governorship of the Upper Nile and the SPLM the deputy governor.

The first vice president’s acting spokeswoman, Puok Both Baluang, condemned the decision, claiming it violates the 2018 peace agreement and is another unilateral action.

“This is to inform our members and the public that President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s decision to relieve the Governor of Upper Nile State, H.E. James Odhok Oyay, of his duties and effectively consolidate control of the state within his party by appointing Lt. Gen. James Koang Chuol, Assistant CDF for Training and Research for the SSPDF, constitutes another unilateral action and a severe violation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement,” Baluang said in a statement issued on Thursday.

“It is evident that the SPLM-IG is no longer respecting the agreement,” he added, accusing President Kiir’s SPLM party of undermining the agreement.