The Governor of South Sudan’s Aweil State, Major General Jal Malith Jal has sacked two senior state officials.
Jal, in a decree issued on Wednesday, removed his security adviser, Akot Kiir Ayii and the local government minister, Abraham Aleu.
Removal of the two officials is linked to the ongoing inter-communal violence in Wathmuok, the newly proposed Ajak Central County.
The two officials hail from Kongdeer community.
Conflict has, since last week, emerged between Ajak and Kongdeer communities after Aweil state government established Wathmuok as a new county, a move opposed by the Kongdeer community.
The Kongdeer community is claiming ownership of Wathmuok area.
The state minister for information, Lual Dengdit said the removal of the two officials was discussed by the council of ministers during a meeting chaired by the acting state governor, Simon Ober Mawut.
“The briefing of today [Thursday] was about the two members of cabinet, the adviser and the local government minister who were relieved from their posts and the acting governor briefed the council on the reasons for their relieve from their posts,” said Lual.
According to the minister, the two officials were sacked because their community attacked another community and incited violence.
“The two officials were relieved simply because their community [Kongdeer] attacked the other side and they are suspected of having a link to incitement of the community anger, but investigation will be done to find out the truth,” said Dengdit.
The sacked officials were not available to comment on the matter.