South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, has fired six ministers allied to his long-time rival Riek Machar.
Nyarji Roman, Machar’s Deputy Spokesman, said on Wednesday in Juba that the action is widening a political rift in the Country and drawing threats of more fighting.
He said that Kiir filled the vacant posts, including that of Petroleum Minister, with people linked to a breakaway faction of Machar’s SPLM-IO party, further aggravating divisions at the top of the oil producer.
Roman said that Kiir also dismissed the ministers of the Interior, Higher Education, Labour, Water, as well as Lands and Housing, in a statement read out on state television.
He said that the replacements were made on the recommendation of Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, who announced he was taking over the SPLM-IO in July.
“We are not surprised by the steps taken by Kiir and Taban Deng Gai.
“We will march to Juba and put an end to this drama if the foreign forces (buffer force demanded by Machar) are not deployed,” he said.
The president and his former vice president, the rebel leader agreed a peace deal last year and set up a unity government.
But the ceasefire broke down several times and Machar left Juba last month, demanding an international force intervene to keep their forces apart.
The two years of civil war that erupted after Kiir sacked Machar as Vice President in 2013 has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced over 2 million, many of whom fled to neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan.
The personal rivalry between Kiir, from the Dinka group, and Machar, a Nuer, has worsened ethnic splits in a country awash with weapons.