South Sudan’s Military Chief of Staff Removed From Post

The South Sudan government has said that Paul Malong, the controversial Chief of Staff of South Sudan’s army, has been removed from his post.

Malong has long since been a controversial figure in the South Sudan government and has been accused of orchestrating and contributing to the violent fighting in the country’s capital of Juba last year.

The fighting between government forces and other militia in the country has greatly contributed to the fatality count of the country’s devastating civil war. The fighting in Juba has left hundreds of people dead and thousands of locals displaced.

The United Nations had proposed sanctions against Malong and he was accused of undermining the peace treaty issued in the country in 2015.

Jeremy Konyndyk, a former official of the US’ Obama administration also said that Malong has been an instigator of the infighting happening between rival clans in the country since the inception of the civil war in 2013.

“Malong is a strong Dinka nationalist and key player in ethnic violence since 2013,” he said.

President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, is also a part of the Dinka clan, and it has also been suggested that Malong and Kirr have worked together to instigate violence to push their own, nationalist agenda.

However, a spokesperson for the president, Ateny Wek, said that Malong had been removed from his post as army Chief of Staff because he has held the position for more than three years, which is considered a violation of army rules.

The statement regarding Malong’s removal had been read out on national television in South Sudan and was seen as ‘downplaying’ the removal of Malong as a routine exercise.

The civil war in South Sudan has caused the displacement of thousands of people in the country and has taken the lives of hundreds. Several efforts to initiate peace in the country have been unsuccessful.