South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his first deputy, Riek Machar, are scheduled to meet at the State House in Juba on Friday to discuss the recent dismissal of Defence Minister Angelina Teny.
Mr Kiir also switched the ministries of defence and interior, giving the former to his political party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), and the latter to Mr Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO)
The SPLM-IO called the presidential decrees “unilateral” and “a violation” of the resurrected peace agreement, and demanded that Ms Teny be reinstated.
Parties have the authority under the peace agreement to remove their representatives from the council of ministers and nominate replacements by notifying the president.
According to a representative of Machar’s office, the meeting regarding the changes was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved to Friday at the president’s request.
The meeting’s statement has been praised by an international organisation that is keeping track of how the revitalised peace accord is being implemented.
The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) said it was encouraging consultation to resolve the problem of the removal of the defence minister, and encourage the parties to observe the letter and spirit of the revitalised agreement.
