(Reuters) – South Sudanese President Salva Kiir sacked his entire cabinet and his deputy president on Tuesday and suspended his top negotiator at talks to defuse tensions with Sudan, state media said.
State television cited a presidential decree saying the ministries would be run for now by their under-secretaries.
It also said Vice President Riek Machar had been sacked, and Machar’s spokesman James Gatdet Dak confirmed this.
The decree said Kiir had suspended Pagan Amum, Secretary General of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and South Sudan’s top negotiator at talks with Sudan.
Kiir has been facing dissent from within the SPLM and also from the street over an economic crisis, largely the result of disputes with Sudan that have prevented it exporting its lifeblood crude oil, and endemic corruption.