The commissioner of Nyirol County in Jonglei State, James Bol Makuey, has been barred from entering his office and given an ultimatum to leave, as political tensions rise following Wednesday’s house arrest of First Vice President and SPLM-IO leader Dr. Riek Machar.
Under the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), power is shared between President Salva Kiir’s SPLM, Machar’s SPLM-IO, and other groups. Nyirol, an SPLM-IO stronghold, was allocated to Kiir’s SPLM as part of the deal.
Nyirol County’s information director, Both Jal, told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday afternoon that the commissioner had been ordered to stop working and leave immediately.
“This morning, a group of people from SPLM-IO and local youth asked the commissioner to return to Juba immediately and that he was no longer welcome in the SPLM-IO area,” he said.
Jal added that community leaders had intervened to ease tensions.
“The commissioner is a son of the area. So local leaders de-escalated the tension to avoid any bloodshed and said the commissioner should be given time to prepare to leave. As we speak, the commissioner is at his residence,” he explained.
Jonglei State’s information minister Nyamar Lony Thichiot said she was unaware of the situation in Nyirol.
Michael Bol Gatdor, the state SPLM-IO secretary-general, said: “I am not yet briefed on this political development in Nyirol County.”
Multiple attempts to reach Commissioner Bol for comment were unsuccessful.