The governor of Jonglei State has removed the commissioner of Pochalla County in the east of South Sudan near the Ethiopian border while also appointing a new deputy governor.

This comes less than a week after the defection of an SPLA unit in the county, a force numbered at 125 by the now dismissed Pochalla commissioner and at 270 by the army spokesman.

Governor John Kong has appointed Omot Acheu Awan to replace the current commissioner of Pochalla, Joseph Okello.

He removed four other commissioners as well, all from county’s now under control of the opposition faction SPLM/A: Akobo, Nyirol, Uror, and Ayod.

The deputy governor, who defected to the opposition several months ago, has been replaced by appointment of Baba Medan, former minister of youth and sport.

Three ministers and one committee chairperson were also relieved owing to their defection to the rebels several months ago: Peter Paar Kuol, minister of infrastructure; Gabriel Duop Lam, minister of law enforcement; and Goi Joyol, chairperson of the investment committee in the state.

Kong provided no explanation for the decrees, nor gave any indication of when the ministerial vacancies might be filled.

In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Friday, the commissioner of Pochalla said, “Well up to this moment this report has not reached me officially, but there is no problem, even if they replace me.”

The commissioner said he would welcome the new commissioner and would not cause any problem. He said the decision would not cause him to defect to the rebels. 

However, he declined to comment further on the report because he said he had not heard the information from anyone else, and would wait for official confirmation.