S.Sudan president suspends vice president, cabinet

JUBA: South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has suspended his entire cabinet and vice president in the largest reshuffle in the history of the two-year-old nation, the former information minister told AFP Tuesday.
“President Kiir wants to make a major reshuffle, so from the vice president downwards, all national ministers and deputy ministers have been removed,” said Barnaba Marial Benjamin, who until his suspension Tuesday was the information minister and government spokesman.
Those removed include the vice president, Riek Machar, as well as Pagan Amum, the secretary-general of the ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Many of the ministers were key figures in the rebel SPLM or its armed wing that fought a brutal 1983-2005 war against the government in Khartoum, which led to a 2011 referendum in which South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to split from the north.
Security forces had deployed on the streets of the capital — a common sight in the city — but all seemed calm.
“Why should there be instability? This is a constitutional position... he (Kiir) is the head of the government,” said Benjamin, who said he was speaking now as a member of parliament, not as a minister.
“It is his constitutional mandate to form and dissolve a government.”
No replacements have been announced, and it was not immediately clear whether all suspended would be returned, or if new blood would be brought in to replace them.
“Some of these people will come back and some will not,” Benjamin added.
Residents in Juba said there was concern at the suspensions, which follows earlier orders by Kiir in April to clip the powers of Machar.
“People are staying at home, and if people are out in town they are rushing back just in case there is trouble,” said Richard Jok, a student.
Last month Kiir suspended two of his most senior and influential ministers to launch investigations into an alleged multi-million dollar corruption scandal.
Probes were launched into finance minister Kosti Manibe and cabinet affairs minister Deng Alor, powerful leaders of the young nation.
Dozens of generals have also been relieved of their positions in the past year.
Oil-rich but war-ravaged South Sudan, which gained formal independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, is one of the poorest countries on earth.
It was left in ruins after five decades of conflict between southern rebels and successive governments in Sudan, with South Sudan now struggling with some of the worst development indicators of any nation.