Sacked South Sudan Foreign minister was a marked man
Fired South Sudan Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Ramadan Abdallah Goc.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has dismissed his Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Ramadan Abdallah Goc in his latest Cabinet reshuffle, cutting short Goc’s Cabinet tenure of less than two years.
In a presidential decree broadcast on Wednesday evening on the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), President Kiir sacked the minister but appointed him a member of parliament.
The reshuffle also saw the removal of Deputy Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba and then, in a subsequent decree, his elevation to Foreign minister.
No reasons were given for the dismissals.
Mr Goc was a marked man, though. Last week, he said that First Vice-President Riek Machar and other detained Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO) officials have the right to legal representation during investigation and trial.
"No one in South Sudan is above the law. If there is any issue and a report indicates that you were actually giving orders or that briefings were done with your knowledge, there will be investigations, and we will keep everyone informed," the minister said.
On Tuesday, SPLM-IO was thrown into a crisis after members of a splinter group replaced Machar, who is under house arrest, as party leader.
Stephen Par Kuol was named interim chairman in the controversial decision arrived at during a meeting in Juba on Wednesday, which was largely boycotted by top officials of the party.
The group also named former Federal Affairs minister Lasuba Wango deputy interim chairman and Agok Makur interim secretary-general.
Observers say replacing Machar without consensus would effectively render the revitalised peace agreement null, raising fears of renewed instability in the world’s youngest nation.
The ex-Foreign minister was caught up in a diplomatic dispute between Juba and Washington DC over the return of South Sudanese deportees after the South Sudanese authorities barred the entry of one Makula Kintu, a Congolese national who was deported to Juba after allegedly impersonating Nimeri Garang.
The Trump administration accused Juba of blocking the deportee, and revoked all visas held by South Sudan passport holders and threatened further punitive measures if Juba did not comply with the deportation order.
In an effort to ease the diplomatic friction, South Sudan accepted Kintu.
The Foreign ministry said the decision was made "in the spirit of the friendly relations between South Sudan and the United States."
"As a result of this decision, the government has instructed the relevant authorities at Juba International Airport to facilitate Mr Makula Kintu permission to enter the country as early as tomorrow," it said in a statement on Tuesday.
After naming Mr Goc MP in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly, the President revoked the appointment of Albino Mathom Ayuel to the House.
The reshuffle comes amid tensions in the country over rising differences with the Kiir administration and the opposition.
South Sudan, an oil-rich nation, gained independence in 2011 after seceding from Sudan. But it soon descended into civil war following a bitter falling-out between the two leaders. A 2018 power-sharing agreement aimed at stabilising the nation was signed, but its implementation has been plagued by persistent challenges.
Under the terms of the peace deal, the President holds the authority to appoint and dismiss government officials at both national and state levels. But, when it comes to officials from other political parties, Kiir can only make such changes with the consent of their respective party leadership.