In a move that significantly undermines South Sudan’s fragile peace agreement, President Salva Kiir has abruptly dismissed Interior Minister Angelina Teny, a prominent opposition figure and wife of detained First Vice President Riek Machar. The Monday evening dismissal, executed without public explanation, represents a serious breach of the 2018 power-sharing arrangement that had allocated the Interior Ministry portfolio to the opposition.
President Kiir immediately appointed Aleu Ayieny Aleu, a veteran loyalist who previously held the interior minister position from 2013 to 2015, signaling a consolidation of power within the presidential circle. This political maneuver occurs against a backdrop of escalating military tensions across multiple regions, including Jonglei state where Machar-aligned forces alongside White Army fighters have captured strategic territories including Pajut town in Duk County, threatening the approach to the state capital Bor.
The dismissal further exacerbates the already precarious security situation, with fresh clashes reported in Unity, Upper Nile, and parts of Central and Eastern Equatoria states. International observers and regional peace guarantors have expressed growing alarm at the systematic unraveling of key provisions from the 2018 peace accord, particularly regarding security sector reforms and the unification of forces which remain largely unimplemented.
Teny’s removal follows her effective marginalization from the Interior Ministry since March 2025, when security agents confiscated her communication devices and her husband was placed under house arrest on treason charges related to violence in Upper Nile state. Opposition spokesperson Pal Mai Deng characterized the dismissal as ‘a clear sign of desperation’ from a government ‘crumbling under pressure’ as security conditions deteriorate nationwide.