http://www.trust.org/item/20140424120527-g6fyzEmbattled South Sudan
president replaces army chiefSource: Reuters - Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:31 PM
Author: Reuters
* Conflict increasingly fought along ethnic lines
* South Sudan army has been hurt by mass defections
* U.N. says readying sanctions against both sides
By Carl Odera
JUBA, April 24 (Reuters) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has sacked
his army chief, a military spokesman said, replacing him with a loyalist
from his own ethnic group as the country's four-month conflict shows signs
of being increasingly fought along tribal lines.
Kiir also replaced his head of intelligence, days after government troops
were routed from a major oil hub by rebels loyal to Kiir's former deputy
Riek Machar, and hundreds of civilians were massacred.
Army spokesman Philip Aguer said General Paul Malong, a stalwart of the
Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), had replaced army chief General
James Hoth Mai.
The violence in the central African state, the size of France, has mainly
pitted Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's Nuer. Thousands have been
killed and more than one million people uprooted from their homes.
"Malong is a Kiir loyalist and a Dinka hardliner," said one analyst who did
not wish to be identified.
Mai was the most prominent Nuer within the SPLA, a former guerrilla force
which became the national army of the south after the end of the civil war
with Sudan in 2005.
He had been seen as an emblem of Dinka-Nuer cooperation within the
military, and his removal was unexpected, said Jonah Leff, Africa analyst
with Conflict Armament Research.
The SPLA has been riven by defections since fighting broke out in December.
Many former Nuer militia fighters who were incorporated into the SPLA after
independence from Sudan in 2011 have defected to join Machar's ranks.
Intelligence chief Paul Mach was replaced by General Marial Nour Jok,
spokesman Aguer said. Both men are Dinka.
President Kiir did not give a reason for the sackings, which were announced
on national television on Wednesday night.
OIL FIELDS THREATENED
After capturing Bentiu last week, rebels aligned to Machar hunted down men,
women and children hiding in a mosque, church and hospital and then killed
them based on their ethnicity, the United Nations says.
The rebels deny the allegation. But they acknowledge they are targeting
South Sudan's oil fields, an economic lifeline that pays for the vast
majority of the government's budget.
A ceasefire signed by the two sides in January failed to hold.
U.N. Security Council members are considering sanctions on South Sudan's
warring parties after U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous demanded
"serious consequences" be imposed on both sides to force an end to the
violence.
Rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said Machar's forces took over Renk town and
were nearing Paloch in the Upper Nile State, the biggest oil installation
in the country. He said the rebel side again called on oil companies to
"stop production and evacuate staff/employees to avoid being caught in
crossfire".
Aguer, however, said the SPLA had fought off rebels in Renk. Access to
these remote areas is difficult for journalists, making it hard to
independently verify the accounts.
The East African IGAD bloc brokering the peace talks between the two sides
said the conflict was disrupting economic activity in the region and
stopping food production at a time when South Sudan is at risk of a serious
famine.
"(IGAD) calls on the international community to act now to put pressure on
both parties to stop the war and prevent a deeper catastrophe from
unfolding in South Sudan," the bloc said in a statement.
Faltering peace talks are expected to resume in the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa on April 28. (Additional reoprting Aaron Masho in Addis Ababa and
Drazen Jorgic in Nairobi; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Richard
Lough and Mark Trevelyan)
Received on Thu Apr 24 2014 - 10:33:48 EDT