Salva Kiir Mayardit

Neither those supporting President Salva Kiir Mayardit nor the factions behind his rival ex-­Vice President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon had shown any commitment to ending the fighting before their representatives signed the ceasefire in Addis Ababa on the evening of 23 January...

Before that however there had been months of complaints that Salva Kiir was surrounding himself with Dinka supporters from his home state and being influenced by people who unlike Rebecca and Pa'gan were not seen as bearers of the liberation struggle banner...

'Salva Kiir got what he wanted Independence for South Sudan...

Among those dismissed were the eleven men who were detained in Juba and whom Salva Kiir accused of involvement in a foiled ‘coup' in December (AC Vol 54 No 16 A power struggle not a coup)...

' Not the usual suspectsThe complex roots of the crisis are evident from the origins of the top eleven detainees accused by Salva Kiir's government of complicity in Riek Machar's supposed coup plot...

' Pa'gan Amum declared that they were trying only to reform the party not mount a coup and they recognised that Salva Kiir was legitimate President...

Meanwhile pressure was mounting in Addis on President Salva Kiir Mayardit to release the remaining four detainees linked to dissident ex-Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon...

The four oppositionists still detained in Juba – Pa'gan Amum Oyai Deng Majak d'Agot Ezekiel Lol – are unlikely to join the talks due in Addis Ababa on 7 February between President Salva Kiir Mayardit's government and dissidents led by ex-vice-president Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon...

The rebels within the governing party made clear their opposition to the increasing centralisation of power under President Salva Kiir Mayardit the skewed distribution of South Sudan's new oil wealth and a general lack of political accountability...

The immediate diplomatic but not economic beneficiary is Sudan's President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir who flew to Juba on 6 January to embrace his old foe Salva Kiir and pledge support for a negotiated solution as Juba officials gritted their teeth...

Field Marshal Omer was keen to assure Salva Kiir that his regime was not supporting Riek as Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) former security chief Edward Lino Abyei had claimed...

The dissidents' discontent was fuelled by President Salva Kiir Mayardit sacking his entire government in late July (AC Vol 54 No 17 Powers of separation)...

The attack in Jonglei by Gatdet's fighters who had theoretically been integrated into the national armed forces the Sudan People's Liberation Army appears to have been triggered by the 15 December mutiny by SPLA fighters loyal to Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon who had lost many of his powers in July after publicly challenging President Salva Kiir Mayardit...

Immediately after the NLC meeting there were reports that Salva Kiir had ordered Riek's arrest...

After sacking his ministers Vice-President and several provincial governors along with many commanders of the SPLA by the constitutionally-dubious means of presidential order Salva Kiir had discovered that the SPLM party structures were far stronger than the National Assembly...

Yet insiders concede that relations between UNMISS and President Salva Kiir Mayardit's government have become ever more strained since South Sudan's Independence in July 2011 led to the end of the previous UN Mission in Sudan's mandate and the pull-out of UNMIS peacekeepers from Sudan (AC Vol 54 No 16 Mission impossible)...

When Parliament turned down President Salva Kiir Mayardit's choice of Justice Minister on 13 August it was greeted as a victory for democracy in the face of an increasingly autocratic ruler (AC Vol 54 No 16 A power struggle not a coup)...

After Chairman Garang and his deputy Salva Kiir clashed on the eve of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2004 some feared the infighting in the party would destroy both SPLM and the CPA...

When South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit sacked his cabinet on 23 July along with his two chief negotiators with Sudan the move prompted international concern that war would again break out between the two states...

When President Salva Kiir Mayardit sacked his Vice-President all his ministers the governing party's Secretary General and several senior police officers on 23 July the world greeted it as a coup...

Salva Kiir's moves were part of a longer process...

Like President Salva Kiir Mayardit (a Gogrial Dinka) Barnaba is Catholic...