JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Thursday night dismissed the country’s Vice President Josephine Lagu Yanga and reinstated Hussein Abdelbagi Akol in his latest cabinet reshuffle.
In a decree broadcast on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcastiong Corporation (SSBC), Kiir reappointed Abdelbagi to the vice presidency. No official reason was provided for Lagu’s dismissal.
The cabinet changes unfold against a backdrop of intensifying political turbulence and a widening security crackdown in Juba.
On Thursday morning, security operatives arrested former Finance Minister Marial Dongrin Ater in a pre-dawn raid in Rumbek before droving him by road to the capital. Authorities also detained a former central bank governor, adding to a string of high-profile detentions.
The 2018 revitalized peace agreement grants the president the prerogative to appoint and dismiss government officials.
However, dismissing officials who belong to other political parties requires the consent of those parties’ leadership. It remains unclear whether Lagu’s dismissal was recommended by her South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) coalition.
Lagu serves as the chairperson of a faction of the SSOA, a coalition of political parties signatory to the 2018 agreement.
Abdelbagi heads a faction of the SSOA. The broader coalition split following the formation of the unity government, with the ruling SPLM recognizing both.
Abdelbagi, who hails from Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, will now resume his role as vice president for the service cluster.
Despite his roots in the opposition alliance, he is widely seen as a close ally of the president. The appointment reverses a February 2025 decree that demoted him to agriculture minister.
Under the power-sharing terms, the vice president position for the service cluster is specifically allocated to the SSOA.
South Sudan has five vice presidents under the peace deal intended to end years of civil war. The most senior, opposition leader Riek Machar, is currently under house arrest and facing treason charges.
International and regional peace monitors have repeatedly warned that unilateral SPLM decisions are weakening the 2018 agreement.
Uncertainty surrounding the succession of the 74-year-old Kiir has fueled growing fears of a return to civil conflict. Analysts view these cabinet reshuffles as efforts to consolidate power amid internal shifts.
In a separate order, President Kiir established an Inter-Party High-Level Steering Body to manage dialogue on the national elections roadmap.
The formation of the body follows Republican Order No. 1 of 2026 and Article 106A of the 2011 constitution. The committee is chaired by Tut Gatluak Manime of the SPLM.
The Steering Body is mandated to organize the official launch of the political dialogue process.
It will oversee inter-party discussions to reach a consensus on the electoral timeline and review technical and legal frameworks. The committee also includes Stephen Par Kuol of the SPLM-IO as co-chairperson among other political representatives.
The United States on Thursday afternoon called the internal dialogue efforts farcical over the ongoing detention of Machar, the most senior opposition leader in the world’s youngest country.
