Kiir Daughter Leads Major South Sudan Purge as Senior Officials Face Sack and House Arrest in Oil and Security Shake-Up

Juba, South Sudan – November 24, 2025

Adut Salva Kiir Mayardit, the influential first daughter of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, is orchestrating the dismissal of several high-ranking officials this evening in what insiders describe as a calculated purge targeting key figures in the petroleum and security sectors.

Some officials face immediate house arrest amid allegations of mismanagement, corruption, and disloyalty.

Adut, 40, was appointed Senior Presidential Envoy for Special Programmes in August 2025. Her role grants oversight of sensitive economic and diplomatic initiatives and has fueled speculation about a potential succession plan as national elections remain delayed until 2026.

Critics view her rise as emblematic of nepotism in a nation still scarred by civil war. Supporters see a stabilizing force in a government plagued by infighting.

Kenya Insights obtained details from a high-level whistleblower within the Juba administration outlining a swift overhaul:

Dr. Chol Deng Thon, recently reinstated as Undersecretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, will be replaced by Eng. Deng Lual Wol, a veteran oil engineer with over 16 years in infrastructure projects.

Thon’s brief return, just a week after his November 2025 appointment, reversed his earlier dismissal amid regional tensions over oil exports disrupted by Sudan’s civil war.

Sources indicate his ouster stems from failures to secure pipeline routes threatened by Rapid Support Forces drone strikes.

Dr. Paul Nang Majok, Chief of Defense Forces for the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces, faces demotion in favor of Gen. Santino Deng Wol, his predecessor sacked in December 2024.

Majok’s tenure, marked by intensified airstrikes against opposition forces in Upper Nile, has drawn international condemnation for civilian casualties.

Reinstating Wol, a Kiir loyalist with deep ties to the Dinka power base, signals a return to trusted hands as ethnic militias clash in resource-rich border areas.

Gen. Charles Chiek Mayo, acting Director General of the National Security Service’s Internal Security Bureau, will be relieved of his duties.

Mayo, appointed in February 2025 following a wave of vice-presidential sackings, has overseen a bureau accused of suppressing dissent.

His removal aligns with a broader security reshuffle that saw 37 senior officials dismissed since early 2025, including the previous spy head Gen. Akol Koor Kuc in October 2024.

Ayuel Ngor Kuac, Managing Director of the state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet), tops the list for dismissal. Kuac, a former Chamber of Commerce chair appointed in October 2024, has presided over cascading crises: employee strikes in June over four months of unpaid salaries, whistleblower allegations of money laundering tied to Kenyan real estate, and operational chaos amid Sudan’s war slashing oil revenues by up to 70 percent.

Nilepet, which controls South Sudan’s vital crude exports, has become a flashpoint for economic woes, with cash shortages limiting bank withdrawals to 50,000 South Sudanese pounds daily.

House arrest is rumored for at least two officials, potentially Thon and Kuac, a measure typically reserved for treason suspects under the 2018 peace accord.

“This isn’t just a reshuffle; it’s a message,” the source stated. “Adut is flexing presidential muscle, consolidating control over oil and security ahead of any transition talk.”

President Kiir, 74, has overseen relentless cabinet churn since South Sudan’s 2011 independence, sacking over 37 officials in the past year alone, from vice presidents to the Chief Justice, ostensibly to seek solutions to economic collapse and simmering ethnic violence.

Recent moves include the November 12 dismissal of second Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel, stripped of his four-star general rank, and the abrupt firing of Finance Minister Athian Diing Athian after just two months.

Analysts attribute this volatility to Kiir’s strategy of balancing Dinka loyalists against rivals like First Vice President Riek Machar, whose SPLM-IO faction controls the Petroleum Ministry.

Adut’s involvement amplifies concerns over dynastic entrenchment. “Her envoy role is a trial balloon for greater authority,” says Dr. Lam Akol, a Nairobi-based South Sudan expert. “With elections looming and the economy in freefall, oil prices volatile, inflation rampant, these firings could either shore up family control or ignite backlash from sidelined elites.”

No official confirmation has emerged from State House as of press time, but SSBC state broadcaster is expected to air decrees imminently.

Opposition voices, including SPLM-IO spokespeople, warn that house arrests could fracture the fragile unity government, echoing the 2013 coup fears that sparked civil war.

Civil society groups like INTREPID South Sudan urge transparency, fearing the moves mask deeper graft in the $2 billion oil sector.

As night falls over Juba, the air is thick with tension. For Adut Salva Kiir Mayardit, once a symbol of post-independence hope, this evening’s actions could cement her as the unyielding guardian of her father’s legacy, or unravel the threads of a nation still searching for stability.