JUBA—President Salva Kiir relieved Pal Mai Deng as Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation on Wednesday evening, months after Mai and others left Juba at the onset of a political crisis in March this year.
In a similar decree, Kiir appointed James Mawich Makuach as the new Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation.
The SPLM-IO is experiencing a significant political crisis, primarily stemming from the detention of its leader, First Vice President Riek Machar, and subsequent internal power struggles and defections.
The group has fragmented into two, with one led by Stephen Par Kuol and the other by Oyet Nathaniel. Both do not see eye to eye, yet they claim loyalty to detained leader Machar.
Par’s Juba-based SPLM-IO faction has recently put pressure on President Kiir to appoint his loyalists into vacant positions of opposition officials who left in fear of their safety or were already removed.
In a statement issued following its meeting on August 3, Par’s faction argued that the delayed appointment is not only a breach of the power-sharing agreement in the R-ARCSS but also risks weakening the power balance among the peace parties further.
