The freshly sacked South Sudan Vice President Dr Benjamin Bol Mel has been arrested. Just a day after issuing dramatically demoting Dr Bol Mel from the highest rank of General to the lowest level of Private and dismissing him with disgrace from the national security services, President Salva KiirMayardit has now placed placed him under house arrest in Juba.
According to sources in Juba, Mel’s security was withdrawn on Wednesday even before the decree sacking him came through. Later on Thursday, new security personnel were deployed at Mel’s house located in Jebel, a Juba suburb. The new soldiers deployed at Mel’s house, our source in Juba told us, wouldn’t allow anyone to access or leave the house.
Mel whose climb to the peak of South Sudanese politics was as quick has his downfall, was appointed in February this year as one of the five Vice Presidents in South Sudan replacing Dr Igga Wani who had been Kiir’s vice President since 2013 when he replaced Dr Riek Machar. In May this year, he was also appointed as the first deputy Vice President of the SPLM still replacing Igga and in September was promoted to a rank of full general in the NSS which is South Sudanese elite force that is at the centre of Kiir’s power.
The rapid ascendency of Mel not only in government but also in the army and the ruling party, led to may speculations in South Sudan that he was being propped up to succeed Kiir who has been in charge of South Sudan since 2005; first as Sudanese Vice President and southern Sudan President and then President since 2011 when the country got independence.On Wednesday evening Kiir issued a decree that relieved Mel of all his responsibilities without stating any reasons.
Mel who was in charge of the economic cluster in the government of National Unity was sacked together with; Prof. Paul Logale Jumi who has been the SPLM Secretary General, Dr Addis Ababa Othow who has been the Governor of the Bank of South Sudan and Simon Akuei Deng who has been the Commissioner General of the South Sudan Revenue Authority. All the three have been close associates of Mel. Rumours circulating in South Sudan point to corruption as the possible reason why Kiir cracked the whip. It is said Mel had connived with the above officials to divert billions of dollars in oil money for private use.
To render credence to this theory, in 2017, the United States of America sanctioned Mel accusing him of corruption and diverting government funds to personal benefit. The sacking of Mel comes at a time when the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar is on suspension and battling charges of treason, crimes against humanity, mass murder, terrorism, and destruction of property in the High court in South Sudan.
Machar who was arrested and later arraigned in court was accused of killing South Sudanese People’s Defence Forces when fighting broke out in March in the Nassir area in the north of the country.Ever since fighting broke out in 2013 when Kiir accused his former colleagues in SPLM led by Machar of fomenting a coup, South Sudan has been edge with intermittent breakouts of fighting. It is said that about 400,000 people have been killed since then while over two million have been uprooted from their homes
Over a million are living in Uganda as refugees.
Efforts to bring peace; the latest being the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity have so far proven unsuccessful to bring about peace.
It is hoped that in December 2026, South Sudan will finally hold a general election in which it is hoped new leaders will bring about total peace and draw the country back to the development rail that many had hoped it would take.
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