President Salva Kiir has issued a republican decree transferring a militia commander from the SPLA army to South Sudan Police Service (SSPS) on Friday.

 In a presidential decree broadcast on the state-owned media, Kiir promoted Major General Bol Akot to the rank of Lieutenant General and moved him to the police service without specifying the nature of the new assignment.

Akot was identified in the report of the AU Commission of Inquiry as a retired officer who led a pro-government militia known as Rescue the President (Dut Ku Beny in Dinka) at the time of the massacres in Juba in December 2013 and whom Kiir later gave a senior rank in the army.

The order did not cite any particular reason for Akot’s transfer.