\n South Sudan's President Salva Kiir on Wednesday dismissed vice-president Benjamin Bol Mel, who was slated to be his likely successor to lead the unstable nation.\n<\/p>\n
\n It follows the unravelling of a fragile power-sharing deal between Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar in recent months that has raised fears of a return to civil war.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I, Salva Kiir... do hereby relieve his excellency Benjamin Bol Mel from his position as the first vice-president,\" according to a presidential decree read on the public broadcaster SSBC, which did not offer a reason for the decision.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bol Mel, a businessman known as the regime's financier, had risen in power, having been appointed in February as South Sudan's second vice-president.\n<\/p>\n
\n He then became the number two figure in the presidential party in May -- a position from which he was also dismissed on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Although Bol Mel was sanctioned by the United States in 2017 for corruption, many analysts considered him the likely successor to 74-year-old Kiir.\n<\/p>\n
\n The world's newest country, South Sudan has experienced years of instability and poverty despite being rich in oil resources.\n<\/p>\n
\n In September, Kiir's long-time rival Machar was charged with treason and crimes against humanity over his alleged involvement in an ethnic militia's attack on a military base in March that the government said killed more than 250 soldiers.\n<\/p>\n
\n South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but quickly descended into a five-year civil war between supporters of Kiir and Machar in which some 400,000 people died.\n<\/p>\n
\n A 2018 peace deal ended the fighting and created a unity government but its leaders repeatedly failed to hold elections or unify their armed forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir on Wednesday dismissed vice-president Benjamin Bol Mel, who was slated to be his likely successor to lead the unstable nation. It follows the unravelling of a fragile power-sharing deal between Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar in recent months that has raised fears of a return to civil war. \"I, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-152160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n