South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has fired Justice Riek Bim Top as governor of Unity State and appointed Dr. Joseph Nguen Monytuil as his replacement, state broadcaster SSBC reported Monday night.
The decree comes three weeks after a massacre in Abiemnhom County of Ruweng Administrative Area, where armed youth suspected to have come from Mayom County in Unity State attacked the area, killing more than 200 people, including soldiers.
It is unclear whether Bim’s dismissal is linked to the violence. Both he and his successor are members of Kiir’s ruling SPLM.
Under the 2018 peace agreement, the president has the authority to appoint and remove officials at both national and state levels.
Justice Riek Bim was appointed governor of Unity State in May 2024, replacing Monytuil, who had previously served in the role. Before his governorship, Bim worked in military justice in Juba.
Monytuil, who hails from Mayom County, is a familiar figure in Unity state politics and a longtime ally of President Kiir.
He first became caretaker governor in 2013 and, when South Sudan was reorganized into 28 states in 2015, he was appointed the first governor of Northern Liech State.
After the country returned to 10 states under the 2018 power-sharing deal, he served again as Unity State governor from 2020 until his dismissal in May 2024.
During his last term, the Council of States passed a vote of no confidence against Monytuil in August 2022, citing insecurity and alleged human rights violations, but President Kiir did not act on the motion.
In December 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury placed Monytuil on its sanctions list under Executive Order 13664, targeting individuals “responsible for or complicit in… actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan.”
U.S. authorities alleged that forces aligned with Monytuil carried out systematic rape and other human rights violations against women and girls in Leer County in 2022.
A United Nations-backed Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan identified Monytuil among senior officials whose actions or omissions “warrant criminal investigation and prosecution” for gross human rights violations, including state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings in Mayom County in August 2022 and widespread attacks on civilians.
The South Sudanese government rejected the report, calling the naming of officials, including Monytuil, interference in domestic affairs.