Africa-Press – South-Sudan. President Salva Kiir Mayardit and First Vice President Riek Machar Teny are currently holding an emergency meeting at the statehouse J1 over yesterday’s removal of the minister of defense and the portfolio’s subsequent transfer to Kiir’s party, sources close to the two men say.
In a number of presidential decrees readout on the state-own South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Kiir dismissed Angelina Teny of the main armed opposition group as defense minister along with her interior ministry counterpart Mahmoud Solomon of the SPLM-IG.
In a separate decree, the president swapped the two ministries saying the defense portfolio which belonged to the SPLM-IO until Mrs. Teny’s removal on Friday night will now go to the SPLM-IG and the interior ministry will be given to Machar’s party.
Speaking to Sudans Post this evening, a senior opposition official allied to Machar said that President Kiir and First Vice President Machar were meeting at the presidency in a meeting he said was being attended by two other vice-presidents.
“They are currently meeting and it is not a meeting of the whole presidency because two other vice presidents are not there. There is only the president, the first vice president and two vice presidents,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“Of course what is being discussed is the issue of the minister of defense because what happened is a coup against the SPLM-IO and this is a violation of the agreement that the SPLM-IO will not this time compromise,” he added.
At the time of writing this story, the SPLM-IO Political Bureau was still meeting in an extraordinary meeting and the outcome of that meeting is expected tonight and will likely condemn the dismissal of the defense minister which has already been described as unilateral by an SPLM-IO spokesman.
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