On Monday, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir replaced his vice president and rival Riek Machar following a sharp surge in violence between the government and opposition fighters in the five-year-old country.
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The appointment raises fears of more fighting because most opposition generals and militia remain loyal to Machar.
In a bid to prevent a return to full-scale war in the crude oil producer, the African Union and the Inter Governmental Authority of Development, an east African bloc, have backed the deployment of a regional force and also want the United Nations force UNMISS’s mandate changed to that of an intervention force.
The move threatens to split the armed opposition into two factions: one backing Gai in Juba to support implementing peace implementation, and another faction that only recognizes Machar as the first vice-president according to the peace accord signed last August.
“I have been appealing to him to come back to Juba so that we continue with the implementation of the agreement”.
The agreement states that the vice president must be chosen by the South Sudanese opposition group SPLM-IO, yet after an ultimatum by the president demanding the return of Machar to the capital, he went ahead to appoint Taban Deng Gai who was the Minister of Mines.
The President also made a ministerial reshuffle sacking finance minister David Deng Athorbei and replaced him with trade and industry minister Stephen Dhieu Dau.
Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers ride on their armored personnel carrier (APC) enroute to evacuate their citizens following recent fighting in Juba at Nimule town along the South Sudan and Uganda border, July 14, 2016.
Some 1.69 million South Sudanese are displaced internally, while outside the country there are now 831,582 South Sudanese refugees, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda.
Just three months ago, Riek Machar was sworn in as first Vice President.
A time has come for the global community to act tough with the leaders of South Sudan.
The country descended into conflict in December 2013 after Kiir accused Machar, his former deputy who he had sacked earlier that year, of plotting a coup.
Officials in Machar’s SPLM-IO group were not immediately available for comment.
The pair of rivals signed a peace agreement late previous year, under which Machar was once again made vice president.
The peace deal might be at risk.
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The violence that killed at least 300 people has subsided, but tensions are still running high in the capital and other parts of South Sudan.
