Continued Power Struggles in South Sudan as President Kiir fires VP & Cabinet

Nicodemus Minde -@decolanga

In what is seen as a deliberate attempt to tame Vice President Riek Machar, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has fired him together with the entire cabinet. The President has also issued an order calling for investigation of the party’s Secretary General, Pagan Amum accusing him of inciting violence and criticizing his actions. Reports say that the president wants to make a 'big reshuffle' of the cabinet, but it is believed that he wants to tame Prof Machar who has indicated his desire to run for the chairmanship of the SPLM party and in turn the presidency in 2015. Riek Machar, who comes from the Nuer community, has enjoyed immense popularity over the years. In April 2013, president Kiir slashed the powers of Machar. SG Pagan Amium comes from the Shilluk community and historically, there has been ethnic antagonism between the communities of South Sudan. The president is an ethnic Dinka, which is South Sudan's largest community. 

The decree by the president signifies the power struggle undertones that have been going on for a long period now. The president's move exposes the schisms within the government and the SPLM party which could boil down to the army which is believed to be beyond the control of the president. With the country still in a precarious and fragile state, the dismissal of the VP and cabinet will further destabilize the two year old nation. The country still faces many challenges associated with national building (See my analysis on this here). With insistent power struggles and divisions within the government, South Sudan risks to fall into civil struggle which could take a tribal angle. Vice President Machar was at the fore front in the negotiations with Khartoum over a number of outstanding issues. It remains to be seen how his sacking will affect the ongoing negotiations.    

Still many challenges as South Sudan marks two years of independence

Nicodemus Minde @decolanga

South Sudan today marks two years of independence. The euphoria that was witnessed on the 9th July, 2011 has died and the people of South Sudan today grapple with the harsh reality that comes with peace and state-building. The optimism that characterized South Sudanese has now been replaced with angst and desperation. The country faces numerous challenges such as poor infrastructure, illiteracy, extreme poverty, lack of basic health and educational facilities amongst many. The legacy of boundary conflict with the North continues to be a big challenge. Internal inter-ethnic conflicts brought about by a culture of cattle rustling sees the country at a very delicate situation. The situation has been worsened by poor leadership, ethnicity and corruption. The one party rule strangles democracy and dissidents are sacked and expelled from government arbitrarily. With the shutting of oil production as a result of the continued antagonism with Khartoum is crippling the economy that 98.1% depends on oil. Power struggles within SPLM has seen the Deputy President Riak Machar being stripped some of his powers by President Salva Kiir. The nascent country faces a lot of challenges despite it only being two years old. The lack of political will and corruption threatens to further slow down progress. The leadership of South Sudan needs to do a cross examination of its will and map a clear policy based approach that will steer the country to greater height. I wrote last year that South Sudan needs quality and selfless leadership in order to develop. This is inevitable as long as the country wants to avoid the mistakes made by other African states. 

See: South Sudan's race against time 

See also: South Sudan: 'Independence is not as beautiful as we thought'

I have been doing a research on Peace and State-building in South Sudan for the past six month.