Salva Kiir Mayardit
Kiir in 2014
1st President of South Sudan
Assumed office
9 July 2011
Vice PresidentRiek Machar
James Wani Igga
Taban Deng Gai
Riek Machar
Preceded byPosition established
President of Southern Sudan
In office
30 July 2005 – 9 July 2011
Acting: 30 July 2005 – 11 August 2005
Vice PresidentRiek Machar Teny
Preceded byJohn Garang
Succeeded byPosition abolished
First Vice President of Sudan
In office
11 August 2005 – 9 July 2011
PresidentOmar al-Bashir
Preceded byJohn Garang
Succeeded byAli Osman Taha
Vice President of Southern Sudan
In office
9 July 2005 – 11 August 2005
PresidentJohn Garang
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byRiek Machar Teny
Personal details
Born (1951-09-13) 13 September 1951
Akon, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Political partySudan People's Liberation Movement
Spouse(s)Mary Ayen Mayardit
Aluel William Nyuon Bany[1][2]
Military service
AllegianceSouth Sudan
CommandsCommander-in-Chief of the South Sudan People's Defence Forces
South Sudan People's Defence Force
Anyanya Battalion
Battles/warsFirst Sudanese Civil War
Second Sudanese Civil War
 • Operation Thunderbolt
South Sudanese Civil War

Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 13 September 1951),[3] also known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who has been the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, as well as First Vice President of Sudan, from 2005 to 2011. He was named Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2005, following the death of John Garang.[4]

Early life

Kiir was born in 1951 into a pastoral Dinka family in the village of Akon in the Awan-Chan Dinka community in Gogrial County, South Sudan, as the eighth of nine children (six boys and three girls) in the family.[5] His father, Kuethpiny Thiik Atem (d. 2007), was a cattle herder who belonged to Payum clan.[5] Atem had three wives, Awiei Rou Wol, Adut Makuei Piol and Awien Akoon Deng, along with 16 children.[5] Kiir's mother, Awiei Rou Wol Tong was a farmer, who belonged to the Payii clan.[5]

Sudanese civil wars

Salva Kiir Mayardit in military uniform

In the late 1960s, Kiir joined the Anyanya battalion in the First Sudanese Civil War. By the time of the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, he was a low-ranking officer.[6] In 1983, when John Garang joined an army mutiny he had been sent to put down, Kiir and other Southern leaders joined the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the second civil war. Garang De Mabior had advanced military knowledge and experience from both the United States and Sudan, and Kiir served as his deputy.[7] In 1997, Kiir commanded the SPLA troops that took part in Operation Thunderbolt, a very successful rebel offensive during which most of Western Equatoria was captured by the SPLA.[8] Kiir eventually rose to head the SPLA, the SPLM's military wing when Dr. John Garang was killed in a helicopter crash. Rumours to remove Kiir from his post as SPLA Chief of Staff in 2004 nearly caused the organization to split.[6]

South Sudanese politics

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement formally ending the war in January 2005, Garang was sworn in as the Vice President of the Republic of Sudan. After the death of Garang in a helicopter crash on 30 July 2005, Kiir was chosen to succeed to the post of First Vice President of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan. Before independence, Kiir was popular among the military wing of the SPLA/M for his loyalty to the vision of the SPLA/M throughout the liberation struggle and among those who do not trust the successive governments that have come and gone in the Sudan.[6]

Comments by Kiir in October 2009 that the forthcoming independence referendum was a choice between being "a second class in your own country" or "a free person in your independent state" were expected to further strain political tensions.[9] Reports in January 2010 that Kiir would not contest April elections for Sudanese president, but would focus on re-election as president of Southern Sudan were interpreted to mean that the SPLM priority was independence.[10]

Kiir was re-elected with 93% of the vote in the 2010 South Sudanese election. Although the vote on both the national and sub-national level was criticized by democratic activists and international observers, the overwhelming margin of Kiir's re-election was noted by some media as being "Step One" in the process of secession.[11] Following his re-election, Omar al-Bashir reappointed Kiir as the First Vice President of Sudan in accordance with the interim constitution.[12]

Presidency

Omar al-Bashir (right), President of Sudan, watches a ceremony celebrating the founding of South Sudan with Kiir in 2011.
Kiir voting in the 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum

South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly in favour of their independence from Sudan in January 2011, with 98.83% of voters reportedly preferring to split from the North.[13] On 9 July 2011, South Sudan became an independent state, with Kiir as its first president. Kiir positioned himself as a reformer, using his inaugural address to call for the South Sudanese people "to forgive though we shall not forget" injustices imposed at the hands of the northern Sudanese over the preceding decades[14] and announce a general amnesty for South Sudanese groups that had warred against the SPLM in the past.[15] A few weeks later, he publicly addressed members of the military and police to warn them that rape, torture, and other human rights violations carried out by armed personnel would be considered criminal acts and prosecuted aggressively by the Ministry of Justice.[16] His presidency was characterized as a period of reconstruction, albeit one marred by internal and foreign disputes. Among these were the Heglig Crisis, which caused a border war with Sudan, and an internal political crisis in which attempts were made to overthrow him.

Domestic policy

On 18 June 2013, Kiir issued an order lifting the immunity of two ministers in the national government pending investigations into an alleged corruption case in which they appeared to be implicated. He also issued an order suspending Cabinet Affairs Minister Deng Alor Kuol and Finance Minister Kosti Manibe Ngai from their duties during the entire duration of the probe. In July 2013, Kiir sacked his entire cabinet, including his vice president, Riek Machar, ostensibly to reduce the size of government. However, Machar said that it was a step towards dictatorship and that he would challenge Kiir for the presidency.[17] He also dismissed Taban Deng Gai as Governor of Unity State.

Kiir told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that homosexuality is not in the "character" of Southern Sudanese people. "It is not even something that anybody can talk about here in southern Sudan in particular. It is not there and if anybody wants to import or to export it to South Sudan, it will not get the support and it will always be condemned by everybody," he said. He then went on to refer to homosexuality as a "mental disease" and a "bastion of Western immorality".[18]

  1. In December 2011, 6,000 Lou Nuer armed child soldiers attacked Murle communities. According to investigations carried out by the UN, 800 people from both ethnic groups were killed between December 2011 and February 2012, while women and children were abducted and property was looted and destroyed.[19] Unbeknownst to large numbers of or the entire child soldier population, Kiir planned and had decided to agree to warlike stipends from the Obama administration beginning in 2012, regardless of an American law prohibiting aid to nations utilizing child soldiers created and passed in 2008.[20]
  2. A lack of accountability and justice pertaining to the investigation, arrest and prosecution of the individuals who carried out the violence against civilians of both the Nuer and Murle ethnic groups is widely believed to have contributed massively to, if not categorically, the mass murders, as well as the continued perpetration of the ethnic violence.[19] Kiir established a figurehead "Investigation Committee" with an ostentatious mandate to investigate those responsible for the mass murders and murders, but as of January 2013 no finances had been allocated to the "Investigation Committee" or any of its members sworn in to commence the investigation and bring those to justice.[19]
  3. Throughout the Jonglei disarmament "Operation Restore Peace" which began in March 2012 and continued throughout the year, soldiers were ordered to and assumed the responsibility of extrajudicial killings, severe beatings, binding people with rope, and torture to extract "information" regarding the whereabouts of weapons.

Consolidation of power

After rumours about a planned coup surfaced in Juba in late 2012, Kiir began reorganizing the senior leadership of his government, party and military on an unprecedented scale. In January 2013, he replaced the inspector general of the national police service with a lieutenant from the army, and dismissed six deputy chiefs of staff and 29 major generals in the army. In February 2013 Kiir retired an additional 117 army generals but this was viewed as troublesome in regards to a power grab by others. Kiir had also suggested that his rivals were trying to revive the rifts that had provoked infighting in the 1990s.[21]

On 7 May 2013 Kiir dismissed legal advisor Justice Ajonye Perpetua and deputy Foreign Minister Elias Nyamlell Wako. Kiir had announced that he would no longer tolerate criticism by members of his cabinet.[22] In July, Kiir sacked his entire cabinet, leading experts to warn of upcoming "a full-blown catastrophe".[21] In December 2013, Kiir accused his vice President and other Party members of plotting Coup' leading him to arrest those politicians[23]

Murder and torture of journalists

Moi Peter Julius, who was a political reporter for a South Sudanese newspaper The Corporate, was found murdered late on the night of 19 August 2015 in a residential area of Juba after being shot twice from behind. His murder was committed three days after Kiir publicly and officially threatened journalists, stating that "freedom of the press does not mean that you work against your country. If anybody does not know that this country will kill people, we will demonstrate on them."[24] Earlier in 2015, five journalists by the names of Musa Mohamed (the director of the state-run radio station Raja FM), Adam Juma (reporter and presenter for Raja FM), Dalia Marko and Randa George (reporters for Raja FM), and Boutros Martin (a cameraman for the Western Bahr el Ghazal of South Sudan Television) had been murdered while traveling as part of a convoy, along with six other people. Tom Rhodes of the Committee to Protect Journalists stated after the murders that "The murder of five journalists is a devastating attack on South Sudan's already beleaguered press corps," and that "We urge Western Bahr el Ghazal authorities to do their utmost to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice, and to ensure journalists are allowed to carry out their duties safely."[25] At present, none of the parties responsible for ordering the murders or perpetrators of the crimes have been arrested, charged, or convicted.

Foreign policy

Kiir with US President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., 5 August 2014
Kiir with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 30 October 2016
Kiir at the Russia–Africa Summit 2019 in Sochi on 24 October 2019

In mid-October 2011, Kiir announced South Sudan had applied for accession to the East African Community. He declared the EAC to be "at the centre of our hearts" due to its members' support of the South during the Sudanese civil wars.[26]

On 20 December 2011, Kiir visited Israel to thank it for its support during the First Sudanese Civil War from 1956 to 1972,[27] and met with Israeli president Shimon Peres to discuss establishing an embassy in Jerusalem, which would make South Sudan the first country to have one in that city.[28]

After the outbreak of the South Sudanese civil war, Salva Kiir delivered a speech in January 2014 lashing out at the United Nations and “so-called humanitarian organizations,” accusing them of supporting Riek Machar to try to overthrow him. He accused the UN of sheltering his enemies on their bases adding, “There is a problem with the international community, and it is something that people will have to thrash out with them.”[29]

In March 2014, Kiir's government organized a rally accusing the United Nations of colluding with anti-government forces. Protesters carried signs accusing the UN of arming anti-government forces.[30]

Relations between Kiir's government and some erstwhile supporters deteriorated since the start of the civil war. He disclosed in an op-ed published in his name in the Washington Times in October 2015 that unnamed "international partners in peace" had threatened his government with sanctions, the withdrawal of aid support, and referrals to the International Criminal Court.[31]

Heglig crisis and war with Sudan

On 26 March 2012, the South Sudanese army attacked the oilfield in the town of Heglig (known also to the Dinka of the Unity state as Panthou), located between the border of the Sudanese state of South Kordofan and the South Sudanese state of Unity, triggering the Heglig Crisis. On 27 September, Kiir met Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and signed eight agreements in Addis Ababa,[32] Ethiopia, which led the way to resume important oil exports and create a 10-kilometre (6 mi) demilitarised zone along their border. The agreements allow for the return of 56,000,000 litres (350,000 barrels) of South Sudanese oil to the world market. In addition, the agreements include an understanding of the parameters to follow in regards to demarcating their border, an economic cooperation agreement and a deal to protect each other's citizens. Certain issues remain unsolved and future talks are scheduled to resolve them.

On 25 November 2012, South Sudan launched a formal complaint to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) against Sudan in the wake of aerial bombings carried out by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in parts of South Sudan's northern Bahr el Ghazal state, killing at least eight people and injuring an equal number. South Sudan treated the attack as a gross violation of the cooperation agreement the two country's leaders signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 27 September.[33]

Political crisis

In September 2013, an article appeared on the South Sudan News Agency website.[34] The article was authored by a South Sudanese analyst by the name Duop Chak Wuol. In his writings, Duop criticized the ruling SPLM party and warned of widespread consequences if party doesn't fix its growing autocratic policies. Duop also predicted negative results the young nation would face if a civil war break out. Tensions rose between Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar in December 2013 in the lead-up to a meeting of the National Liberation Council (NLC) of the ruling SPLM party. After two days of NLC meetings, on the night of 15 December 2013 shooting erupted within Salva Kiir's Presidential Guards. The next day, Kiir denounced Machar and other senior SPLM officials for staging a failed coup against his government, a claim later denied by Machar and others. These events marked the start of the South Sudanese Civil War.[35] About 400,000 people were estimated to have been killed in the war by April 2018, including notable atrocities such as the 2014 Bentiu massacre.[36]

Assassination plot

According to a Saudi Arabian diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks in June 2015, the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum had previously alerted the Saudi Arabian government of an assassination plot against Kiir by members of the Egyptian and Sudanese intelligence agencies.[37]

Business interests

Kiir is reported to be the part-owner of ABMC Thai-South Sudan Construction Company Limited. With Garang Deng Aguer and Benjamin Bol Mel According to a report by Radio Tamazuj, however, Kiir's shares are not held directly but may be concealed in the name of a close associate. Ties between Kiir and the company were denied by Kiir's spokesman Ateny Wek. The company was awarded at least $161 million in government roads contracts.[38] The president's wife previously held shares in Yanyyom Mineral Water and Beverage Factory located in Juba. The factory took its name from Lake Yanyyom, located near the president's hometown Akon in Warrap State. Another owner of the factory was Garang Deng Aguer, a business magnate and former Governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.[39]

South Sudan famine

In the early months of 2017, parts of South Sudan experienced a famine following several years of instability in the country's food supply caused by civil war and drought. International humanitarian advocates stated the famine was manmade[40] and pointed to the country's ongoing conflict for creating the famine conditions. More than 3 million people had been displaced by ongoing violence across the country, forcing families to abandon agricultural land and livestock, leaving them with few food resources to survive with.[41] The worst fighting was in Unity State, where tens of thousands of people fled their homes due to a government offensive against opposition-held areas.[42]

Days after the declaration of famine, the government raised the price of a business visa from $100 to $10,000, mostly aimed at aid workers, citing a need to increase government revenue.[43] U.N. officials said that Kiir was blocking food deliveries to some areas.[44]

Personal life

Stetson hat

Kiir with United States President George W. Bush, 15 November 2007

In 2006, when visiting the White House, Kiir received a black stetson as a gift from U.S. President George W. Bush. He reportedly liked it so much that he purchased several. He now rarely makes public appearances without wearing one.[45]

Marriage controversy

In a politically charged social issue, it has been claimed that Kiir secretly married the daughter of former comrade, the late William Nyuon Bany, an ethnic Nuer and former leader of the SPLA. Allegedly, a traditional Dinka ceremony was conducted by his brothers. This led to strife between Kiir's eldest daughter and Aluel William Nyuon Bany.[46] Kiir has not publicly commented on the allegation. According to media reports in Kenya, "Kiir's in-laws" have requested privacy.[47]

Urinating incident

On 13 December 2022, Kiir appeared at the inauguration of a road project, and the television broadcast of the event captured footage of Kiir wetting himself and making a puddle on the ground, while he and others attending the event stood for the South Sudanese national anthem.[48][49] The footage went viral internationally, and the incident was attributed to the possibility that Kiir was suffering from a urinary tract infection.[50] On 18 December, it was reported that some of the journalists who had covered the incident were missing, and at least one was dead.[49] On 6 January 2023, six TV team members from South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation were detained based on suspicion of distribution of unauthorized footage.[51]

References

  1. ↑ Sudan Tribune, Kenyan police arrest S. Sudan president’s son over drunkenness
  2. ↑ ""Our family life is private" Kiir's in-law says - Entertainment News". Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  3. ↑ "Biography of H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit". www.presidency.gov.ss. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "Sudan: UN mourns death of Vice-President Garang". UN News. 1 August 2005. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Wël, PaanLuel (24 February 2016). "Salva Kiir Mayardit: The Joshua of South Sudan".
  6. 1 2 3 "Profile: Salva Kiir". BBC News. 2 August 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Douglas H. (2003). The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars. Indiana University Press. p. 66. ISBN 0-253-21584-6.
  8. ↑ LeRiche & Arnold (2013), p. 104.
  9. ↑ "S. Sudan president makes first call for independence". Reuters. 31 October 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  10. ↑ "Sudan would accept separation, says President Bashir". BBC News. 19 January 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  11. ↑ Gettleman, Jeffrey (26 April 2010). "Bashir Wins Election as Sudan Edges Toward Split". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ "Salva Kiir and Ali Osman appointed deputies of Sudan's President". Sudan Tribune. 29 May 2010.
  13. ↑ "Over 99 Percent in Southern Sudan Vote for Secession". FOX News. 30 January 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  14. ↑ "South Sudan: Salva Kiir Calls for Forgiveness As South now South Sudan Gains Independence". 9 July 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  15. ↑ "Salva Kiir takes oath, grants amnesty to rebels". Sudan Tribune. 9 July 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  16. ↑ Wadu, Waakhe Simon (1 August 2011). "Salva Kiir Warns Armed South Sudan Forces Over Human Rights Abuse". Oye! Times. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  17. ↑ "South Sudan gripped by power struggles - Africa". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  18. ↑ "South Sudan President Condemns Homosexuality". African Activist News. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
  19. 1 2 3 World Report 2013: South Sudan. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2016. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  20. ↑ Turse, Nick (9 June 2016). "Hillary Clinton's State Department Gave South Sudan's Military a Pass for Its Child Soldiers". The Intercept. New Nation, Long War. First Look Media. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  21. 1 2 "South Sudan president sacks cabinet in power struggle". the Guardian. 24 July 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  22. ↑ South Sudan, International Crisis Group, May 2013, retrieved 25 September 2023
  23. ↑ "Final report of the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan - South Sudan | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  24. ↑ Raskauskite, Zivile (26 August 2015). "South Sudan reporter killed in apparent targeted attack - Global Journalist". Global Journalist. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  25. ↑ "Five journalists killed when gunmen ambush convoy in South Sudan - Committee to Protect Journalists". cpj.org. Committee to Protect Journalists. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  26. ↑ "South Sudan readies for EAC membership which was later rejected". Busiweek.com. 17 October 2011. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  27. ↑ "Al Arabiya, 12/20/2011". Alarabiya.net. 20 December 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  28. ↑ Pipes, Daniel. "South Sudan, Israel's New Ally". danielpipes.org. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  29. ↑ South Sudan President Salva Kiir told UN of acting like a parallel government JAN 20,2014, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 15 October 2015
  30. ↑ Rwakaringi, Mugume Davis (14 March 2014). "South Sudan Peace Protesters Rail Against UN". Voice of America. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  31. ↑ Kiir Mayardit, Salva (11 October 2015). "South Sudan: the world's youngest nation strives to build democracy". Washington Times. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  32. ↑ Affa'a-Mindzie, Mireille (9 October 2012). "Negotiating Peace in the Sudans: The Addis Ababa Agreement". IPI Global Observatory. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  33. ↑ "South Sudan: Juba to File Complaint to UN Security Council Over Khartoum Aggression". allAfrica.com. 25 November 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  34. ↑ The SPLM and the Rise of Autocracy in South Sudan
  35. ↑ "It wasn't a coup: Salva Kiir shot himself in the foot", South Sudan nation, 20 December 2013, archived from the original on 12 October 2017, retrieved 12 November 2015
  36. ↑ "Study estimates 190,000 people killed in South Sudan's civil war". Reuters. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  37. ↑ "Egyptian intelligence coordinated with Khartoum to assassinate South Sudan's Kiir: cable". Sudan Tribune. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  38. ↑ "Special investigation: President Kiir linked to multi-million dollar roads contracts". Radio Tamazuj. 16 June 2015. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  39. ↑ "Special investigation: Kiir did business with ex-NCP governor". Radio Tamazuj. 24 June 2015. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  40. ↑ Clooney & Prendergast, George & John (9 March 2017). "South Sudan's government-made famine". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  41. ↑ MacSorley, Dominic (24 March 2017). "South Sudan famine results from failure of political will". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  42. ↑ Quinn, B. (20 February 2017). "Famine declared in South Sudan". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  43. ↑ "South Sudan hikes visa cost to $10,000 amid famine". Alaraby. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  44. ↑ "Famine declared in part of South Sudan by government and UN". WHIO. 20 February 2017. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  45. ↑ Lynch, Colum. "Where did Kiir get his ten-gallon hat?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  46. ↑ The Nairobian. "Battles rock Salva Kiir family in Nairobi". Standard Media Group. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  47. ↑ The Nairobian. ""Our family life is private" Kiirs in-law says". Standard Media. Archived from the original on 22 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  48. ↑ "South Sudan President Pee On His Body During Road Commissioning" (Video). YouTube. SaharaTV. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  49. 1 2 Sylvester, Tobias (18 December 2022). "Journalists Who Filmed South Sudan President Salva Kiir Wetting Himself Reportedly Missing, Others Found Dead". Kanyi Daily.
  50. ↑ Sahara Reporters. "Viral Video: 71-Year-Old South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardit Peeing Himself While Inaugurating Road Project". Omoyele Sowore. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  51. ↑ Hajjaji, Danya (7 January 2022). "Six journalists arrested over footage of South Sudan president wetting himself". The Guardian.

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