The decrees also stripped Bol Mel of his military rank, demoting him from general to private in the National Security Service. No successor has been named for the vice presidency.
In a series of leadership changes, Kiir dismissed Paul Logale as SPLM Secretary General, replacing him with Akol Paul Kordit. Addis Ababa Othow was also removed as governor of the Bank of South Sudan, and Simon Akuei was sacked as commissioner general of the South Sudan Revenue Authority, with William Anyuon Kuol appointed to that position.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bol Mel’s office dismissed what it called “unfounded rumors” circulating on social media that he had been placed under house arrest and stripped of his security detail. “The Vice President continues to implement the President’s vision for a prosperous and self-reliant South Sudan,” his office said in a statement issued hours before his dismissal.
Bol Mel was appointed vice president in February this year, replacing Wani Igga as the SPLM representative in South Sudan’s multi-vice-presidential system. The country currently has five vice presidents, a power-sharing arrangement established under the 2018 peace agreement that ended years of conflict.
Political observers in Juba say the shake-up could signal renewed tensions within the SPLM and shifts in the balance of power ahead of the country’s long-delayed elections.