Move has little to do with reform or ending war, Salva Kiir is tightening his grip on power, says expert
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has reshuffled the army's leadership, firing four top army officers, including deputies to the Chief of the General Staff.
In a presidential decree read Thursday night on state television, South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Kiir sacked members of the top military circle that had overseen the country's response to the uprising of rebels loyal to former vice president, Riek Machar.
Kiir removed Gen. Malual Ayom, the deputy chief of defense forces for operation, training and intelligence, and Gen. Malek Reuben, the deputy chief of defense forces and inspector general, who was blacklisted in September by the U.S Treasury Department over attacks on civilians.
Gen. Mangar Buong Aluong, the deputy chief of defense forces for administration and finance and Gen. Charles Lam Chol, the commander of the air force and defense forces were also relieved of their commands.
No reasons were given for the sudden dismissals, which came as fighting continued in some parts of the country, including in the Jonglei and Equatoria regions as well as in the main oil-producing Upper Nile state.
The reshuffle in the army also saw two senior officers promoted to the rank of lieutenant generals and four other deployed in different sectors in the military.
James Okuk, a South Sudanese political analyst known for his narratives on politics and governance told Anadolu Agency on Friday in Juba that the firing of generals was the latest in a series of high-profile reshuffles that President Kiir had engineered in what he believed to be a bid to consolidate his grip on the country's elites.
"The firing of the military generals has little to do with reform or ending war, it is about President Kiir tightening his grip on power," Okuk said.
Even if you change the heads of military without proper reforms, without the structures including the reform in the army, then it will never have an impact, he said.
"To build a conventional army, you need to address several challenges including salary delay, but as long as war and economic crisis continue, the change will never have an impact unless peace is achieved," added the analyst.
South Sudan erupted into civil war in 2013, just two years after declaring its independence from the north. The ongoing conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead and created a humanitarian crisis as nearly 4 million people fled their homes.
The U.S Treasury in September blacklisted South Sudan officials including the axed army deputy chief of staff, Malek Reuben Riak, Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth and Paul Malong, an ex-army head dismissed by Kiir in May for derailing peace efforts.
