In a dramatic move that underscores South Sudan’s deepening political crisis, President Salva Kiir has dismissed one of his five vice presidents, Benjamin Bol Mel, amid a wave of high-level firings.
Bol Mel, appointed in February and long rumored to be Kiir’s favored successor, has not only lost his vice presidency but was also stripped of his role as deputy leader of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). In a further blow, he was demoted from general to private within the National Security Service.
No official explanation has been provided for his removal, and a replacement has yet to be announced.
Bol Mel has faced U.S. sanctions since 2017 over alleged corruption. A recent United Nations report accused companies linked to him of receiving $1.7 billion for road projects that were never completed. He has not publicly addressed these allegations.
President Kiir also dismissed the central bank governor and the head of the national revenue authority both considered close allies of Bol Mel further signaling a purge of the vice president’s inner circle.
These developments come as South Sudan grapples with renewed instability. The country’s long-delayed elections have been postponed twice, and fears of a return to civil war are mounting. In March, Kiir’s former wartime rival and current first vice president, Riek Machar, was arrested and charged with treason.
Meanwhile, clashes between government forces and various armed groups have intensified in recent months, raising alarms both domestically and internationally.
South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, descended into a brutal civil war just two years later, claiming an estimated 400,000 lives before a fragile peace deal was signed in 2018. That agreement established a power-sharing government with five vice presidents a structure now under strain as political uncertainty grows.
