South Sudan President Salva Kiir has dismissed Benjamin Bol Mel as vice president and deputy leader of the ruling party.
The president also fired the governor of the central bank, Dr Addis Othow, and the head of the revenue authority, both seen as close to Bol Mel, who was appointed as one of the country’s five vice presidents in February.
The president announced this in a decree read on state television on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
Kiir’s decree provided no explanation for the firings, which followed hours of speculation in South Sudan after the security detail in front of Bol Mel’s residence appeared to be reduced.
Kiir also demoted Bol Mel from the rank of general, to which he promoted him in September.
The moves add to relentless turnover in the upper ranks of South Sudan’s government at a time when questions about Kiir’s succession are swirling and there are fears of a return to civil war.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, won its independence from Sudan in 2011 but quickly descended into a civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.
Bol Mel has been under U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption since 2017, and a U.N. report in September accused companies affiliated with him of receiving $1.7 billion for road construction work that was never done.
He has never directly responded to corruption accusations made against him.
Announcing sanctions against Bol Mel in 2017, the U.S. Treasury said that he had served as Kiir’s “principal financial advisor”. Kiir’s office denied this characterisation.
Bol Mel’s rise to the vice presidency and apparent status as the 74-year-old’s chosen successor drew sharp pushback from political and security elites in Juba, analysts told Reuters.
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