President Kiir sacks army’s chief of general staff Photo: President Salva Kiir with Paul Malong during Independence Day celebrations. (Radio Tamazuj)
President Salva Kiir on Tuesday night removed the South Sudanese army’s chief of general staff Paul Malong Awan. The official South Sudan Television and Radio, also separately broadcasted presidential decrees announcing the appointment of Gen. James Ajongo Mawut, as the new chief of general staff.The new chief of general staff until his appointment was a deputy chief of general staff for administration. No reason was given for the new changes in the top army leadership, although many people attributed the cause to mounting military tensions in Juba, where there has been heavy deployment of troops. Malong, a strong ally of Kiir, was perceived by many as a hardliner in the current government in Juba. In September 2016, a UN panel of experts said that heavy fighting that engulfed Juba in July 2016, forcing former vice president Riek Machar to flee, was directed by the highest level of the country's military.The UN report pointed the finger at President Kiir and Paul Malong as having ordered the large-scale attacks that began on July 8, 2016. Share this -- To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14oo-%2Byz3h-UAjCbkCp%2B6715F82MLEdDQB2-O8gQ2pzu26A%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
